For Life
by Thea-Zara
Summary: There are two uses in werewolf hierarchy for the Alpha Beta Omega status. Leadership and sexuality. Derek may be a leading Alpha, but he's also a sexual Omega. Slash, Omega!verse.
1. Chapter 1

Peter Hale was at his door.

Okay, he'd repeat it. Peter mother fucking Hale was at his damned door.

Stiles began emergency texting procedures immediately. Scott, Derek, and then even Isaac... just in case he was with one of the other two and their phones were dead or being ignored. 'Peter is at my front door... wtf?'

Derek was the only one to reply, which meant that Isaac and Scott were off with their now epic bromance leaving him to be chopped up and killed by the resident zombie wolf, since Derek's reply was ZERO fucking help. 'Don't talk to him.' Duh.

Stupid Sour Wolf.

"You of course realize, Stiles, that I can hear you typing on your phone and you're breathing and that lovely rabbit like heartbeat. Could we possibly speak, without the door between us? You have my word that I'm only here to discuss a proposition with you. I mean you no harm and you have my word that the moment you ask me to leave, after you hear my offer, I will."

Stupid reasonable Walking Dead Wolf.

"It's about a threat to Derek and his territory. One which will effect both you and Scott, if left to get out of hand."

Stiles opened the door and walked into the kitchen, calling almost sweetly over his shoulder, "Coffee, Iced Tea or water?"

"Excuse me?" Peter asked, slightly thrown off his game at Stiles shift in attitude.

"Would you like a drink, Mr. Hale? We have coffee, Iced tea, or water. I _was_ raised to be polite to company, which you now are. Please, have a seat."

Peter raised one eyebrow and then settled into one of the seats at the table. "I'll have a glass of water, please."

Stiles nodded and then poured him a glass of filtered water from a pitcher in the refrigerator.

He settled into the seat opposite from Peter, and then relaxed, completely.

The strange behavior threw Peter off balance, which secretly amused Stiles to no end. "You had something you wanted to discuss? Under normal circumstances, I'd never dream of rushing you, however, my dad get's off work in two hours, so we're working under something of a time crunch here."

"Of course, my boy. Have you been made aware of the pack of Alpha's currently making inroads into Hale Territory?" Stiles nodded and Peter continued. "They've all come in an attempt to take over the Hale Territory without having to fight for it."

"How in the Hell do they expect to do that? It's not like Derek is just going to roll over for them." Stiles said, agitated.

"It's um... funny you should word it like that, Stiles. I'm sure you are aware of the overt uses of pack status, the leader or Alpha, the soldiers or Beta, and the lone wolves, the outcasts or the Omegas, correct."

"Yeah that was pretty much werewolf 101." Stiles said, listening, because he _knew_ there was something more to this. Something in his gut was clenching, not painfully, but in some strange excitement.

"Those are the designations overt pack roles, but when it comes to mating, those designations take on a different meaning, because werewolf sexuality works differently. The Alpha is the aggressive, or sexually dominant member of a relationship, and they, despite outward sexuality, provide the semen when it comes to mating. Beta's follow standard human ideas of sex and mating. Omegas, tend towards being sexually submissive, and provide the egg and the um... incubation when it comes to mating. There can be Alpha males and Alpha females, as well as Omega males and Omega females. Most humans are born Betas, but on rare occasion an Alpha or Omega is born human. However without the boost the werewolf metabolism, the odds of such a pair finding each other, mating and successfully producing a child are quite astronomical. That's not to say it hasn't happened, but people tend to scoff at it or assume anything resembling a male pregnancy is some sort of hoax."

Stiles was a little confused about why he needed to hear this lesson, but intrigued none the less at this glimpse of the werewolf dynamics. "So, are there like female Alpha and female Omega pairs? And how do female Alphas work with male Omegas?"

"When it comes to female Alpha's and male Omegas the actual 'sex' of the person is really more of a misnomer, they are actually more hermaphroditic with the 'extra' sex organs used for reproduction while the primary sexual organs go along with their accepted 'gender'. It is not completely unheard of for either group to mate successfully along their gender with humans. For example an Alpha female becoming pregnant via her primary sexual organs, to a human or Beta. More rarely the Omega male may impregnate a female, it's not in anyway less feasible, it just simply doesn't tend to happen very often."

"While I find this very interesting information, Peter, what exactly does it have to do with the Alpha pack and how they intend to take over Hale Territory?" Stiles asked, remaining completely polite.

"Well there are two aspects to this. The term Alpha pack, thanks to the dual nature of the designations aren't a pack of Alpha's in the Leader sense of the term."

"So they're all sexually deemed as Alphas?" Stiles asked.

"Just so. In werewolf general hierarchy it's not unheard of for a sexual Omega to rise to a leadership Alpha. However, it is customary if the Omega has an Alpha mate, and yes before you ask, werewolves do mate for life, it is expected that if they take a sexually Alpha mate, that mate will assume control of pretty much everything they own or control. For example any property or rank within the pack would be expected to go to their mate, including territories they control and their rights as Alpha pack leader."

"Are you telling me, Derek is an Omega, and this Alpha pack is here to woo him out of his home and his pack?" Stiles' voice had gotten louder as he spoke. "Why in the Hell would he agree to mate with one of them if that was the case?"

"While we attempt to remove ourselves from the direct association with our four legged brethren, are you really so naive as to think it's a matter of him consenting in the face of a pack of suitors?" Peter asked, his voice cold. "Do you expect he'll be given any say in this, any choice? Once he enters into a fertile stage, which is coming soon, those Alphas will fight each other for the right to 'mate' with him." The disgust at the term mate was something Stiles fully agreed with, considering it was a pretty euphemism for rape, and they both knew it. "Once the _victor_ has sampled his spoils, Derek is stuck mated to whoever got there first. His place in the pack and the Hale Territory goes his rapist, while Derek becomes a broodmare for the Alpha pack."

"You came here with a proposition, what is it?" Stiles asked, voice hard, his anger at the situation barely held in check.

"I believe I mentioned the rarity of the human Alpha. A human Alpha lacks the werewolf instincts when it comes to initiating mating. They don't have to wait for a particular smell from the Omega in question. They could swoop in and bond with the Omega before the wolves even started 'proving' themselves. This hypothetical human Alpha would also gain control of Derek's properties and station in the pack, which could prove detrimental if this Alpha were to jump into the pack dynamics as an outsider. No one in the pack would follow some random human, and even if this hypothetical human allowed Derek to remain in charge, his status would be damaged. Ideally this pack friendly human would also be amenable to allowing the Hale's to retain our family territory. And the most important aspect of the ideal human Alpha would be to find one who would respect Derek as a person, as opposed to treating him like their own personal sex toy slash babymaker."

Stiles scrubbed his hands over his head, before he began pacing the kitchen. "I was hoping you wanted some sort of help with finding someone for the job, but that's not it, is it." He said, stopping mid turn to look at Peter.

"It's really not, Stiles."

"I'm not doing or agreeing to _anything_ until I talk with Derek. And I mean really talk; not him slamming me into walls and grunting. I am not even going to consider this until we talk. Whatever we decide, your part in this is done. I appreciate where you're coming from with this, and I'm glad someone brought it to my attention, because we both know the stubborn son of a bitch would go down with the damned ship instead of asking for help, but from now on this isn't any of your business. Understood?" Stiles was still as polite as possible, under the circumstances, but his voice was clear and strong.

"Completely, Stiles. Thank you for hearing me out."

With that Stiles led him to the door and ushered him out into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

He cleared up the kitchen then turned off the lights before slipping upstairs. Without turning on the light or a glance towards the shadows in the corner of the room, Stiles grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants from on his dresser and then walked towards the bathroom. He spoke without looking back. "I'll be about ten minutes, Derek."

Nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, he walked back into the room, skin flushed from the warm shower. He flipped on the light and sat down at the computer desk, spinning it to face the wall Derek was leaning on. He was obviously angry, if his glare and the grinding of his teeth were any indications. "I told you not to talk to him." He bit out.

"Yes and you didn't follow that up with the 'surefire anti-werewolf' spray recipe. He asked to speak to me reasonably and agreed to leave if I asked him to, as opposed to sneaking into my room and demanding my attention and obedience under ridiculous circumstances."

"He had NO right to say anything to you." Derek said, as he started pacing.

"You're right." Stiles said shortly.

"It's not any of his busi- Wait, what?" Derek said, totally derailed by Stiles' agreement.

"Peter had no right to tell me about what's going on. You on the other hand, damned well should have." He said voice raising slightly.

"It isn't any of your business either, Stiles."

"Right. It's not any of my business when my friend is going to be raped by whichever werewolf manages to beat up all the other wolves, and then he's going to be stuck with this rapist asshole for life, while he gets his entire life stolen from him, and quite possibly forced to put out over and over to in some warped little supply and demand model. Nope I can't see why I'd need to know anything about that."

Derek looked completely confused. "What the Hell did Peter tell you? Scott is safe, the rest of the pack are all betas. The Alpha pack won't go after them."

Stiles wanted to actually scream in frustration. "I know the rest of the pack will be safe, moron."

"But... you said your friend, who did Peter tell you they were after?"

The absolutely saddest part of that, was that Derek was truly confused. Stiles didn't know whether to hug him or smack him upside the head. "I meant YOU, dumbass. I realize I might not be good enough to pass your stringent friend qualifications, but you are MY friend, and we" He jerked his hand back and forth between the two of them. "are going to work on your ability to open your mouth and ASK for help when you need it. Right after we work out if I'm going to be your mate. Because let me tell you, there is a whole other level of 'shit you need to use your words for' when it comes to us being mated, as opposed to friends. So it would really save us time, if we figure that part out first."

Derek looked lost and very confused. After a few moments, he very obviously steeled himself and walked toward Stiles' bed, taking off his jacket and shirt on the way.

A clearly stunned Stiles let him get as far as his hands on his fly when he jerked out of his shock and spoke up. "What the HELL are you doing, Derek?"

He froze, but the determined look never left his face. "Getting this over with." He said, his voice barely steady.

"First off, if I want you undressed, I'll do it myself... with my teeth." Stiles said, smirking briefly before looking serious again. "And second. I won't be doing that until AFTER we talk and we both agree that this is what we want. Do not EVER treat me like I'm one of those Alpha Pack bastards. If you don't want to do this we don't do it. If you want to fight instead, I will be right by your side, doing my damnedest to keep my friend safe. I won't be your rapist, Derek. That is the one thing you can't ask me to do."

Derek slumped down on the bed. His voice was rough when he spoke. "I don't know what to do. I'm the Alpha, and I don't know what to do. I got most of my family killed and now I'm going to be the person too weak to hold on to their legacy."

"No you're not." Stiles said, climbing to his feet and stepping over to the bed. "Kate is the one who got your family killed, Derek, not you. You were a boy in love. She was an Alpha female human, wasn't she?"

Derek nodded, without looking at him.

"What she did, to you and your family, that's on her, Derek not you. If there is justice after death, that bitch is sitting in the lowest circle of Hell with the betrayers. All you did was fall in love. She's the one who twisted love with hate. And we are not going to let those Alpha bastards get their claws on you or your birthright, ever."

Derek looked up then, and Stiles held out his hand. after a moment Derek took it. Stiles took a moment, to think of how to ask, and then spoke. "Do you think you could be happy with me as a mate, Derek? Can you like me enough to make this work?"

"I've never had a problem liking you, Stiles. Even when you were driving me completely insane, Hell even when you were suggesting, Allison shoot me in the head, I couldn't help, but admire the fact that you came up with the one plan that might have achieved your goal."

"You should know something about that. Earlier that day, Scott caught one of those from less than ten feet away, I knew there was no way, short of you actually being paralyzed, that you'd actually let yourself get hit. I was afraid she'd actually hit one of your Betas and then you'd kill her for it."

"I wouldn't have been happy about it, but I wouldn't have killed her. If I was going to kill her for something like that it would be what she did to Isaac when we were fighting the kanima and Gerard."

"That must have been bad, I don't think even Scott has forgiven her for that, yet." He said, actually impressed that his friend could hold a grudge against Allison that long.

"You know he's becoming an Alpha on his own, right?" Derek asked, looking away. "He's becoming a leader, I could let Isaac, Jackson and even Peter go become his pack. They'd be safer that way, maybe. I'd lose the land still, but he could try to claim everything that isn't actually Hale property. It would minimize the risk to the pack, if we could convince him. I know he has issues with Jackson, but I think Lydia can help wrangle him. Peter will try to twist things in order to get ahead, but you'll be there to help him keep Peter in line, right?"

"Derek, is the idea of being tied to me so bad that you'd give up your pack and choose to let them have you?" Stiles asked, watching Derek.

Derek jerked and looked at Stiles, and then at their still touching hands. "You're seventeen years old, I should not be forcing you to jump in to protect me. It's not fair to you. How could you want to tie yourself to someone like me for life? Why would you want to?"

Stiles slowly drew in a breath before speaking. "Instead of pushing me away, or throwing yourself down in front of the Alpha Pack as a sacrificial goat, why don't we find out? How long do you think we have before your, what do you call it... fertility cycle kicks in and sets them fighting for you? Do we have any time, or are you about to 'blossom'?"

Derek looked positively offended, which was the most he'd looked like himself this whole time. "Don't say it like that!" He calmed down and then continued. "I, uh, should have a week, but it could start a few days early or late, probably early because of stress."

"Okay, so, instead of you 'taking one for the team' literally, why don't we just find out if we can work." He rubbed his thumb over Derek's hand, without letting him go.

"How do we do that?" Derek asked, cautiously.

"The same way normal people do it. Derek, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night? We could maybe see a movie too, if you want."

Derek looked completely confused for a minute, and then his face cleared and he smiled. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Stiles smiled back, and then leaned in, slowly so that if he wanted to move, someone with Derek's skills could be two blocks down the road before Stiles reached his goal. He was still holding one of Derek's hands. His other hand came up behind Derek's neck, pulling him into position and holding him there, while Stiles leaned in and slowly brought their lips together. As kisses go, it was practically chaste; soft and sweet and completely without tongue or heavy breathing, but it was more than enough for both of them... for now.

Stiles broke the kiss, but let their foreheads rest against each other, and avoided Derek's eyes as he spoke. "The situation itself sucks, but I'd still choose you, Derek. So long as you wanted me too." He slowly pulled away and handed Derek back his shirt and jacket before climbing off the bed.

Derek got dressed, never meeting Stiles' eyes. He got as far as the window before Stiles' spoke again. "I'll pick you up at six tomorrow. Are you guys at the station, or the house?"

Derek smirked then, something Stiles hadn't thought he would miss until he got a warm feeling seeing it. "Neither, Peter was a bit... offended by our living situation and talked me into renting an apartment." He leaned over Stiles' desk and wrote the address on a piece of scrap paper quickly. He looked at Stiles, finally, before slipping out the window, with a soft smile and a whispered 'Goodnight."


	3. Chapter 3

Stiles spent considerably more than ten minutes getting ready the next afternoon. He'd been up half the night alternately planning and worrying, before finally crashing out at four am... only to be woken up at 8 by a supposedly worried Scott, who'd just gotten his emergency text from more than twelve hours previously.

Team Werewolf was amazingly on the ball this week. If Peter had been planning something more homicidal, he would be gnawed on bones in a shallow grave by now. After calming his very annoying best friend down, and assuring him of Stiles' continued safety, he crawled back under the covers and planted his face in his pillow. He managed another three hours.

Eventually he made his way downstairs. It was almost noon, so he started lunch for him and his dad. Not that he actually cooked, per se. He could cook about five things well, and four of those were on the big giant list of shit his dad was not allowed to eat. So... he opened a can of low sodium soup, dropped that in the sauce pan to heat up while he sliced whole wheat bread and then pulled out the low fat cheese and the turkey versions of various lunch meats. He also pulled out the low-fat mayonnaise and as many vegetables as he could find.

He had the soup in cups, and the sandwiches mostly made, he was just debating whether or not to add chopped broccoli to the sandwiches... and deciding not to, when his dad started coming down the stairs. He slapped the low-fat mayonnaise on the lids and then started moving everything to the table as his dad trudged around the corner.

His dad took one look at the table and then spun around to look at Stiles. "What did you break and how much money do you need to bribe your way out of trouble?" He asked suspiciously, while backing slowly towards the sandwiches on the table.

Stiles grabbed two bottles of juice, laughing and followed him to the table. "I'll have you know this is all health-"

"No!" His dad barked, dropping to his seat.

"What?" Stiles asked, honestly confused.

"Whatever is on that plate looks and smells delicious. I don't want to know how healthy it is, what bean curd its actually made of, or how its going to add years to my life. I want to eat it and hope it tastes as good as it smells."

Stiles grinned and drank a sip of his soup before grabbing up half of his sandwich and taking a huge bite. He waited until his dad was halfway through his sandwich, and completely finished with his cup of soup before he started the conversation he knew needed to be held.

"You're working tonight, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I should be home by one or so, unless something comes up. Why?" He asked, eyes on his son, curious.

"I was just wondering. I'm not going to be here most of the evening, anyway. I uh, sort of have a date you know... tonight." He said, with faux casualness.

"Oh, that's... that's great, Stiles." His dad replied, pleased, but a little thrown. "Make sure you get her home before curfew. I'd hate to get a call from an irate parent, if you're late getting your date home." He grinned.

Stiles' face twisted a little at that, before he turned to look at his dad. "It's a him actually, and his parents aren't an issue, really. In either sense. I mean um, they passed away, and he's old enough to set his own curfew, or that is to not have a curfew, I mean." Stiles wasn't nervous about any one of the many issues. He knew his dad would be cool about the guy thing, and cool about the 'older' thing... within reason, but when you add it together with the whole 'accused him of murder' and 'person of interest' things? Well there were only so many cool points his dad could use up before he ran out, right?

"Is this the first time you've gone out with this person?" He asked taking another bite of his sandwich.

"We've hung out as friends, or friends of friends or whatever, but not romantically, until now." He answered carefully.

"So have I met this friend, or friend of friends or whatever?" Another bite.

This was the moment Stiles was actually worried about, but if this really was going to become a lifetime commitment, he wasn't going to start it out with lies to his dad. There were more than enough of those already. "Yeah, it's Derek Hale. I asked him to dinner, maybe a movie, if dinner goes okay."

His dad didn't say anything at first, chewed a bite of his sandwich slowly, methodically, while he considered the situation. "I guess you really did know him a little better than you said at first."

"I do now, Back then it really was us just kind of getting stuck together over some of Scott's drama, which is Scott's drama so I can't get into it, but I swear it wasn't anything illegal, but over the last year Derek and I have become friends. I know he's a little older than you're comfortable with, but after the fire, I think he kind of closed down for awhile. I pretty sure I'm only person he's dated since then. I know he hasn't seen anyone since he came back here, and well when your first girlfriend turns out to be responsible for killing most of your family..."

"Wait, him and the Argent woman?" His dad asked, derailed.

"From what I can tell, she used little bits of things you tell someone you're with, you know stories about what this sister did, or your uncle's hobbies, to find out what she needed to know in order to figure out the best time to kill them. She just decided they didn't deserve to live and killed them, and from what I can tell, she decided that before she started dating Derek."

"And Scott is dating her niece?" He asked. "Not that I blame her, or anything, but is that part of why Hale was around you two?"

"I think he was afraid Kate was gonna try to mess with Allison's head, make history repeat itself. Between what was going on back then, and how Allison's been acting lately, I can't say she didn't try. Allison's mom's suicide was like some kind of trigger. I think her Dad has her straightened out, and might be working on getting her to see a therapist or something, but for awhile there she was kind of scary. Scott and her are broke up. I just don't know if it's a permanent thing or not. I guess it depends on if she gets help, you know?"

"Yeah." He finished his sandwich. "So, and don't yell at me, does this whole date thing have anything to do with that girl from before, um... Lydia? with her being in love with someone else?"

"I think I already knew that she was in love with Jackson, I have for awhile. I honestly didn't think Derek would be interested, so I didn't let myself consider the possibility, and then I found some stuff out, and I think he found some stuff out. Like, I referred to him as a friend, and he got confused. Not because he didn't want to be friends, but because he didn't think I would want to be friends with him, because he doesn't seem to think he deserved it, with all the baggage from Kate. After all that, we kinda had this weird 'moment' thing, and I might have um... kissed him."

"Son... if he's that messed up still over-" His dad started, carefully.

Stiles cut him off. "I know we have to be careful about this. That's why I asked him to dinner instead of dragging him off to do things neither of us will ever EVER discuss. This date thing is us seeing if we'd be good together. Who knows, he might decide he can't handle being with a hyperactive spaz or I might decide his brooding is nerve-wracking, but if we do, we'll just back off and work on being friends instead. But, I really think we might be good for each other, and I didn't want this becoming one more thing I can't talk to you about."

"Son, you can talk to me about anything, I promise no matter what, even if my initial response is to yell and scream, I will hear you out and try to understand."

"I know Dad."

"If in the distant, much later, future, you decide to do any 'things we never ever EVER discuss', please be um... careful." He said, avoiding looking at Stiles, while gathering his plate and cup to put in the sink; his face red.

Stiles made a sort of choked off gulp hiss and began staring at his own plate. "Yeah, um... yeah. Will do." His own blush covering his face and down his neck. He stuffed the remainder of his sandwich in his mouth so he could avoid the need to speak anymore and started washing up the lunch dishes.

His dad clapped him on the back once, thanked him for lunch and fled the scene.


	4. Chapter 4

Five thirty found Stiles in the driver seat of his Jeep, with the scrap of paper tucked away in his front pocket. He was fairly sure the building was less than ten minutes away, but knew there were heavy odds that Stilinski luck would play a part. He had spent the early afternoon washing the Jeep, and then more time than should be legal picking out an outfit. Thanks to his friendship with Scott, he'd already shifted from heavy smelling toiletries to more neutral scents, so he didn't have to worry too much about that. He spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out what the guy equivalent of bringing flowers was, but couldn't think of anything that wasn't hopelessly hokey, or completely over the top, which would ruin the whole 'lets relax and see how it goes' thing tonight had going, before he scrapped the whole idea.

Five fifty nine found him pulling up in front of Derek's apartment building, cursing his luck. He'd stopped for gas only to be caught out by Chris Argent, who seemed to think Stiles was a soft touch for information, intimidation or simply inherently fun to fuck with. God only knows, but he spent fifteen minutes pleasantly chatting with Stiles about the most mundane things, all with that creepy, 'we've got a secret' smile and an arm on his shoulder, like they were 'boys' now or something. Stiles really and truly longed to knock that smile right off his face. Chris may well be the sanest Argent he'd ever met, but that didn't mean he could stand the sanctimonious prick. And seriously, had the man never heard of subtly? with all his tales of rabid dogs? I mean seriously outside of 'Old Yeller' and 'Cujo', who ever sees one rabid dog, much less have a stockpile of relevant stories about them? Yeesh.

He climbed out of the Jeep and rushed over to the door, and was preparing to buzz the apartment when Derek stepped out of the lobby. "Don't" He said in a rush, like he was afraid Stiles wasn't going to stop.

Stiles raised and eyebrow and Derek grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the Jeep. "Peter, is up there."

"If you're here, there wasn't really a reason to buzz your apartment, but is there a reason you don't want Peter to know we're going out?" Stiles asked, not sure he should be offended or not.

"He knows we're going out." Derek said shortly, climbing into the passenger side before Stiles could even think to hold the door for him.

"Okay, so was he like sleeping?" Stiles was slightly confused, because Derek was acting weird, which had Stiles' Spidey Senses tingling. He walked to his side of the car and got in, looking at Derek expectantly before starting the engine.

"He kept making references to romantic comedies, suitors and maybe curfews... I figured killing him again was out, so running for it was our best option." He said, cheeks slightly pink.

Stiles let out a fake shudder, "Good call."

Stiles started driving, and Derek scrunched up his nose. Stiles noticed, when he glanced over. "Let me guess, you smell Chris Argent on me?"

Derek looked thrown at being caught sniffing. "I, um, yeah."

"Freaking weirdo was all buddy buddy with me at the gas station. I dunno if he was fishing for information, maybe wondering if we'd heard anything about Gerard, or just having fun being a dick in general. I mean everyone has to have a hobby right?" Stiles smirked at Derek, before looking back at the road.

"He seems to have a bad habit of harassing people at the pumps." Derek said with a growl.

"Like I said, hobbies, man."

"So, where are we going?" Derek asked, changing the subject.

"Oh right, I meant to ask, instead of assuming. You like Italian, right?" Derek nodded. "Great, I was thinking the Italian place, Gina's on Market Street."

"Their good, at least they used to be. My mom really liked their lasagna." He said, with a sad smile.

"Maybe we could do um, Mexican instead." Stiles started.

"No, Gina's is good." Derek smiled at him. "Thanks though."

Stiles nodded. They drove in companionable silence for another couple minutes, until they got to Gina's. They parked and walked in side by side.

Derek was looking around, a little concerned. "Looks like they're having a busy night."

Stiles just smiled, and then stepped up to the hostess stand. "Hi, we had reservations for two at six fifteen. Stilinski?"

"Your table will be ready in just a couple minutes, sir." Stiles nodded, slipping her a folded up ten, hoping it was enough to get them a decent table. He turned to sit down, and noticed Derek giving him the strangest look.

"You made reservations?"

"Um yeah, this afternoon, I know they get kind of busy and I figured if you wanted something else I could always cancel them. I actually meant to ask you sooner, so I wasn't being a jerk if I had to cancel it, but between the Peter thing and the Chris thing, it slipped my mind." He looked around the room taking in the classic decor. "I think maybe it was a hold over from when I was a kid. My mom always said the most romantic scene in any movie was the uh, the spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp, so when I think dates, my mind always goes Italian. I guess it's a good thing you're not a vampire instead, what with all the garlic." Stiles quipped, blushing slightly.

Less than a minute later, the hostess returned and led them to a window table with a view of the gardens next door. They got settled in then ordered their drinks and an antipasto appetizer. Neither needed much time on the menu and were ready to order when their waitress came back with their drinks.

"I'll have the lasagna dinner, um ranch dressing on the salad." Stiles ordered.

Derek smiled, "I'll have the spaghetti and meatballs, house dressing for the salad, extra garlic bread." By the time he was done ordering, they were both grinning at each other, and Derek reached out his hand to take Stiles' across the table.

Searching for something to talk about that wouldn't freak out any eavesdroppers in the nearby tables, but still be worth actually discussing. His mind went to school, and then a thought occurred to him. "Before you came back to town, what were you doing, working? Going to school? Man of leisure?" He asked grinning.

"Laura and I kind of bounced around, staying a few months here, and a few months there. We were in a lot of places, but didn't actually see much of anything. Just going from distant relative to distant relative, while I finished up school, and Laura worked. Once I managed to graduate, we just kept drifting. We'd stay until it felt like time to move on. I worked whatever I could get, bartender mostly, once I got an ID good enough to pass for twenty one, but also waiter, busboy, whatever was available. I delivered pizza's for one night, before Laura had a fit about what the smell of them was doing to the car. She said there was no way she was going to crave pizza every time she had to drive somewhere just because the pizza joint was too cheap to have a delivery car." They both grinned at that.

They nibbled away at the antipasto platter, and when their meals arrived started on those, all while making safe small talk about school and lacrosse. Then something occurred to Derek. "What are you doing after you graduate? Any ideas yet?" He asked.

"Yeah, I, uh, I'm going to BHU."

"You're staying in town?" He asked, a little confused, because he knew Stiles got perfect grades, and was easily as smart as Lydia, if in different areas.

"Considering the mad house this place has become, I'm probably nuts to want to stay, but they have the classes I need, so why go further away to learn the same thing, just because it might be a more prominent school? The Criminal Justice and Forensic Science programs are both on par with any other school in this half of the state. Plus, no stress over moving to a new place, or worrying about you guys needing me, means I can concentrate on not burning out while working towards a double major."

While he was talking, Stiles sliced off a chunk of his lasagna and put it on Derek's plate, stealing a meatball on the way back to his own plate. Derek just grinned at him and cut off a bite of the lasagna. After practically humming in contentment over the taste, he swallowed and asked another question.

"So are you wanting to be a cop, or like some CSI guy?" He asked, curious, while watching Stiles slice and eat the meatball with a low groan of pleasure.

"I'm more interested in investigation so probably a cop or maybe a deputy, so long as I earn it fair and square. I know my dad wouldn't play favorites, but people are stupid and there are always gonna be people who would think he did, or worse go easy on me because they think he'd want that."

"So are you doing this for your Dad then?" He asked, spinning a few strands of spaghetti and eating it, before shifting another meatball over to Stiles' plate.

Stiles grinned, cutting into the new meatball and taking a bite before answering. "He's part of it obviously, but the thing that pushed it from 'that's one idea' to 'this is it' was you. Er, I mean the pack, and everything that's happened. Having someone in the know about all the stuff that really goes on around here, someone in a position to actually do something about it? Now give that same someone the ability to test and confirm supernatural elements with forensic science? Hell, I've already spent a year of my life 'Scooby-dooing' it up without pay or vacation days, and loving it; even when I was sure we were all going to die. Add in the ability to protect our pack from ending up in jail because something supernatural screws with us again and it's a no-brainer." After a moment or two what he'd said caught up with him, and Stiles paled, visibly before speaking again. "I'm sorry, I meant your pack. I just get carried away."

"Stiles, just because Scott can't figure out where he stands, it doesn't effect you. You're Pack. Hell, you're more pack than Scott's ever been. I'm not going to get offended because you're actually willing to say it. It's a good thing." He smiled at Stiles, pleased by the whole situation. "More than that, you've decided to plan your future around what would best help our pack and protect our territory. There's no way in Hell I'm going to be angry about that."

Stiles smiled back at him, pride in his eyes.

After a few more minutes spent eating and chatting, Stiles brought up a new subject. "I think I'm going to be far too full for desert, how about you?"

"No question, I'm full." He said, chasing the last meatball bit around his plate with a small chunk of garlic bread. Stiles smirked as the meatball kept eluding Derek before holding his fork over to 'trap' it for him. Derek quickly 'caught' his prey and plopped the morsel into his mouth.

"Well, in that case, did you want to go for that movie? There are a couple shows that start around eight."

Derek nodded, smiling. "I'd like that."

Stiles signaled their waitress and asked for the check. When Derek started to reach for his wallet, Stiles waved him off. "I've got this." Derek looked a little put out, until Stiles continued. "You can get the movie tickets, if you want." He slipped two twenties and a ten into the small folder, and told the waitress to keep the change, before standing up and holding his hand out to Derek.

They walked out of the restaurant hand in hand. Stiles paused once they crossed the street to the Jeep. The wind was causing a few strands of Derek's hair to flutter, and he just looked happy. Without thinking about it, Stiles leaned in and kissed him. This one was just as gentle as the one from the previous night, and he trailed his thumb up and down Derek's neck slowly, until he pulled away. He watched Derek's face carefully for any sign that the kiss had been unwanted, instead he got a pleased smile.

Which was why the roar of a pissed off werewolf as it body checked him caught him completely off guard.


	5. Chapter 5

A human, body checked into a stunningly well maintained Jeep by a homicidal werewolf leads to dents in the aforementioned Jeep, and dents in the human, by and large. It also tends to leave the human out of commission for a brief amount of time. When Stiles pulled to his feet, his eyes landed on something that brought him immediately out of his confused state. There was a strange wolf pressing Derek up against the wall next to the Jeep.

Both of them were growling and half shifted, which in Stiles' experience led to whoever Derek was fighting, being slammed into something. Instead, the other wolf was pressing his advantage, pinning Derek to the wall, while he struggled to break loose. Stiles climbed to his feet and reached into the back of the Jeep, pulling out a small case. He flipped it open and quietly moved towards the two wolves, looking around as he did for anyone watching, or anymore potential enemies. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he slid up behind the strange wolf, who had just noticed Stiles.

He slammed Derek's head into the wall, cracking the brick, before turning to face Stiles. He swiped out one clawed hand, which Stiles grabbed and pulled, before slamming a knife into his side under his outstretched arm. The wound was smoking already. Stiles followed it up with a shot of modified pepper spray to the wolf's eyes. Holding the wrist that had slashed out at him in one hand, and the handle of the knife slicing between his ribs in the other, Stiles spun the wolf around and planted him on the sidewalk, then dropped down on him, twisting the knife and pinning his arms. Before the wolf could do more than whimper, Stiles darted forward and bit the neck stretched out in front of him, hard, drawing blood. He pulled back and before the wound could heal, he smashed a handful of grey granules into the wound.

"Just to be clear, you're out of the running, bitch." He sneered before jerking the knife out of the wolf's side and standing up.

Derek was reaching for him, when Stiles barked out, "Don't. Get in the Jeep."

Derek only hesitated for a half a second before spinning around and heading to the Jeep. The wolf on the ground growled and slashed out with one hand, meaning to slice up Stiles' ankle. Instead he added several broken fingers to the injury list when Stiles stomped on the offending hand, before giving the wolf a vicious kick to his wounded side, and walking away. He stuffed the case back into the rear of the Jeep, still looking around for any witnesses or other wolves. Satisfied he had enough time, he pulled a plastic jug of water out and poured it over each hand, and then wiped them carefully with an old shirt. He threw the shirt and the water back into the Jeep and then hurried to climb in.

Stiles had the engine running and pulled away, completely ignoring the wolf he'd left laying on the ground. Once they were in traffic, he glanced over at Derek, who was pulled as far away as possible, looking at him as if he'd never seen him before. "We're going to have to miss the movie." He said, quietly.

"We're going to miss the movie?" Derek's voice had taken on a slightly hysterical tone. "That's what you comment on in all of this? The movie?"

"Well I had been hoping we could see the Avengers, I was looking forward to it." He knew he probably sounded insane, but he couldn't start talking about, start _thinking_ about what happened, not while he was trying to drive. He'd wreck for sure.

Derek reached out his hand, not sure if he wanted to make sure Stiles was real or check him for head injuries, or swat him one for the way he was acting.

Before he got his hand halfway up, Stiles barked "Don't" at him again. He pulled back, confused and hurt. They rode in silence until they got to Stiles' house.

He shut off the Jeep and jumped out, jerking his head towards the door, "Come on let's get inside."

Derek followed him, silently into the house and up the stairs. Stiles led him into his room. "Sit down. I need to go clean up. I'll take care of you when I get back, Okay?"

Derek nodded, without saying anything.

Stiles wanted desperately to check Derek over. He didn't know how badly his head was hurt from the slam into the bricks, and he was terrified of what might have happened while he was unconscious, but he had to shower before he touched Derek. He turned the hot water on before stripping and then bagging the clothes he'd worn. Not only were they bloody, and likely incriminating evidence, but they would have traces of the wolf's bane essential oil he'd added to the pepper spray and coated the knife with. Not to mention stray granules of the mountain ash he'd used on the bite mark.

Once he was undressed, he quickly brushed his teeth to rinse the taste of the other wolf's blood out of his mouth. He then re-scrubbed his hands, arms, face and neck carefully and washed everywhere else just in case. Satisfied he wrapped a towel around himself, and walked to his room to get some clothes, now that he wouldn't contaminate them.

He glanced over at Derek before heading to his dresser, and then skidded to a stop and turned back to Derek. He was sitting on the bed, legs pulled up to his chin. He was staring at Stiles, eyes wide and wet. When Stiles stepped towards him, one hand outstretched, he flinched.

Stiles practically dove to the other side of the room, and threw on the first set of pants he could blindly reach for, not moving his eyes off of Derek, who was now shivering. Stiles quickly pulled a t-shirt over his head.

One hand out, he slowly walked back across the room, eyes never leaving Derek's. "Will you let me check you over?" He asked softly. "I just need to make sure you're okay."

Derek nodded and put his legs down, still not talking.

Stiles turned on the bedside light and angled it to get more light on Derek's head. He ran his hands over the back of Derek's head, wiping away some blood, but not finding any remaining damage. "You're head looks alright. Where else are you hurt?"

Derek just shook his head, and Stiles sat down on the bed next to him. "I don't quite know how long I was out for after he hit me, but did he say or do something that upset you?"

"He didn't say anything I wasn't expecting. Apparently he saw you kiss me, and it pissed him off. It triggered the instinct to fight for an Omega."

"I guess that means no more PDA's until you decide if you like me or not." Stiles joked, before growing sober. "I'm sorry, Derek. You just looked so happy and I wasn't even thinking, it just felt right to kiss you, and all I've managed to do is get you assaulted and traumatized, and then nearly dose you with wolf's bane twice in ten minutes."

"Wolf's bane?" Derek asked, confused.

Wolf's bane essential oil. The knife blade was coated in it, and I added it to the pepper spray mix. That's not to mention the mountain ash I used on him." Stiles tilted his head, looking at Derek. "You didn't smell it?" He asked.

"I couldn't smell anything past the pepper spray. Is, um, is that why you didn't want me touching you?"

"Yeah, the oil is super easy to get everywhere, and it burns werewolves on contact. That's why I bagged the clothes I wore tonight, and didn't even try to get new clothes until I was clean. Sorry if I upset you, but I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I'm, sorry too. I know you're looking out for me, and I _know_ you're not like them, but things got kind of fuzzy after I hit my head, and once I was with it again, you were in Alpha mode, putting out pheromones and ordering me to do things, I think I short circuited somewhere in all that, and I just... I..." He practically roared, in frustration. "Despite my sexual orientation, I'm still a fucking Alpha werewolf, I should not be losing it this badly over what amounts to a fight, even one I was in the process of losing."

"Derek, tonight was more than losing a fight, and what's up with that, anyway. I know he was a sexual Alpha, but rank wise he was definitely a Beta. That loser wasn't any stronger than Scott on a good day, and you can wipe the floor with him on your worst day."

"When it comes to mating, once an Alpha has proven themselves it's harder for me to refuse them. He knocked out a potential suitor and then was trying to force me to submit to him. I could fight him physically, or I could put everything into fighting him mentally, but once it got that far, trying to do both would mean I'd lose. That being said, he knocked you out without warning and barely damaged you at all. You let him see you coming, turned every attack back on him, and forced him to submit to you. Which of you would my wolf be completely helpless against?"

"And then I had to bark orders instead of explaining, because I was trying to get us to safe territory, before I started freaking out. Not to mention me saying I was going to 'take care of you when I get back'. Boy when I fuck up... I fuck up. I'm sorry."

Derek picked up Stiles' hand and held it. "You don't have any reason to apologize. You protected me, and got us somewhere safe, and then even when I freaked out, you just worked on getting me calmed down. This was a really shitty situation, and you did everything you could to keep me safe, even from myself. Can we just maybe pretend everything after that kiss didn't happen?" He looked at Stiles hopefully.

"I know it's not The Avengers in a theater, but you know, I think we have some microwave popcorn, and I'd be willing to bet there's at least something watchable on pay-per-view. Why don't we go downstairs and finish our date? Popcorn, a movie, and some snuggling on the couch?" He gave Derek a hopeful smile.

"I think I'd like that." He said, leaning forward and kissing Stiles on the cheek, before heading downstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

They ended up watching Iron Man instead, because Derek had never seen it. He raided the kitchen for drinks and the last lone bag of microwave popcorn. He checked his snack stash and grinned when he realized he had a small bag of cheese corn and a bag of caramel corn. He grabbed a bowl and started the microwave popcorn. While he waited for it to pop, he opened the caramel and cheese popcorn and poured them into the bowl. Once the popping slowed down on the microwave he pulled that out, opened the bag and poured the hot corn into the bowl, before tossing them all together. Bowl in one hand, drinks in the other, he headed for the living room where Derek had been starting the movie.

They cuddled on the couch, the popcorn bowl between their legs, shoulders touching, with Derek's head on Stiles' shoulder after only a few minutes. Derek was skeptical of the popcorn blend, but after tasting it, he grinned and admitted to Stiles' genius... well he grunted and ate more than half the bowl, but Stiles knew what he meant.

They slowly shifted around, as the movie progressed and the popcorn was eaten. By the time Tony Stark was confessing to the press, Derek was lightly snoring with his head on Stiles' thigh. Once Nick Fury made his case for the Avengers Initiative, Stiles stopped the DVD and turned off the TV. He sat there, petting Derek while he slept until his dad came home from work.

To his credit, he didn't comment on the situation, he just raised an eyebrow and kept walking to the kitchen, a few minutes later he came back and settled into the chair with a beer. "I take it the date went well?" He asked smirking.

"We had a bit of a rough patch in the middle, which is why we ended up back here. Some jerk tried to mug us. He banged Derek into a wall and I got knocked down, but I managed to pepper sprayed his sorry ass. Guy took off running. I needed to change, so we figured we'd watch something here instead."

"You should have called me, Stiles." His dad said, concerned.

"I think it was just some guy who got drunk and stupid. He didn't even have like a weapon or anything, and tried to rob two guys, in a fairly well lit parking lot. By the time it was done and over with, I just wanted to get changed and get out of the dirty clothes."

"Still. I'm just glad you're both okay." He said, running his hand down the side of his face. "So, what's the plan here?" He gestured to their sleeping house-guest.

"I'm going to wake him up and take him upstairs to sleep, and absolutely nothing else, especially all the things we will never ever ever EVER discuss. In the morning, if you leave me some semblance of dignity, I'll make pancakes and maybe even break out my secret stash of sausage links."

His dad made a show out of considering it. "Real or Turkey sausage?"

"Your call, but you get six turkey links or only four real."

It only took him thirty seconds to decide. "Real it is. Have fun with you're sleepover. I'm just going to finish this beer and continue to tell myself that's Scott, who hasn't shaved in a month, and who you don't want to date, and maybe who doesn't like the door shut... you know Scott always did strike me as claustrophobic."

"Okay, Dad." He pulled Derek up to his feet, "Come on, upstairs." He said, quietly to the still half asleep wolf. He leaned over on the way past and kissed the top of his Dad's head, muttering a "nite" as he led Derek up the stairs.

After two near misses with walls and one that nearly ended tragically for the bathroom door, Stiles managed to lead Derek to his bed. His shoes were already off; removed before he got on the couch earlier. He pulled the waistband of the jeans down a little along the side, so he could see if it was safe to get Derek more comfortable. Thankfully he as wearing boxers. Stiles oh so carefully, and with minimal touching of anywhere that could be misconstrued, unbuttoned and unzipped Derek's jeans. He worked the jeans down Derek's legs and then Stiles slid him under the covers.

He slipped off his own shoes, made sure the door was wide open, and then crawled under the covers, but over the top sheet. It was a silly bit of propriety, but still one he wanted to be able to point out, if need be, to assure both Derek and his dad that he didn't intend for anything to happen. Well not yet anyway. He laid on his side, knees drawn up a little, facing Derek, who was laying on his back, mouth open just a little. A combination of streetlights and moonlight was shining in the window, allowing Stiles enough light to see Derek's face. His eyelids were twitching, as if he was dreaming. Stiles watched him until he drifted off, himself.

Stiles woke to something warm burrowing against his chest. Blearily, Stiles opened his eyes in the dim early morning light, to see dark hair. He closed his eyes, counted to five and then re-opened them. Nope, still a head of hair, and now he wanted to run his hands in it. He pulled a hand out from the covers and ran them up Derek's arm , instead. He shivered slightly and grumbled a little before working harder at snuggling up to Stiles' chest.

Stiles lifted his head and realized Derek was uncovered from the waist up. He must have shoved the blankets off in the night and for late spring, it was quite a chilly morning. Stiles pulled the covers over the slightly trembling man and then put his arm around him, holding him close, and resting his chin on top of Derek's head. He felt more than heard the soft sigh of contentment that was issued, before he dropped back off to sleep.

The next time Stiles woke up, the head on his chest had become the mouth on his neck. Derek placed snuffling kisses and tiny licks along his neck and then, as if satisfied, buried his nose against the spot and just stayed there, breathing. Stiles ran a hand up through his hair, causing him to shiver slightly, before humming in a content manner.

"Morning." Stiles said, softly. "Once I get up, I'll dig out some clothes and you can go take a shower while I start breakfast."

"What about your Dad?" Derek asked, tilting his head as if listening. "He's awake."

"Yeah and I promised him I'd make pancakes and sausage for breakfast, so how many do you want?" Stiles asked.

"Won't he wonder why you're bringing food up here?" Derek asked, carefully.

"He would, if I was. I know it might be romantic and all for breakfast in bed, but unless its the chocolate kind, I'd rather not get syrup on these sheets. You can come down and eat at the table like a good little wolf." He said smiling.

Derek's confused face was almost enough to make Stiles laugh outright. "You mean after he leaves?"

"I'm pretty sure today is his day off, so unless you intend to hide out like a big old creeper for two days, then no, I meant once you get a shower and change."

"Um, won't he, uh, be upset, about..." He fumbled his hands to indicate himself, Stiles and the bed.

"Boy you really were out of it last night. He knows you're here. He came home last night, and asked me how the date went. After I told him about the 'mugger' who attacked us, I told him you were sleeping here. Hell you stumbled right past him on the way up here."

"He's okay with... wait, he 'asked' about our date? As in he knew we had a date?" Derek's eyes were wide and shocked, but he had a small smile on his face.

"I don't know if you're going to decide I'm really who you want to be with, but you _are_ who I want, and I'm not going to have a relationship, which will be for the rest of our lives, begin with even more lies to my Dad. I don't want yet another strain on my relationship with him, and _you_ deserve to be more than some dirty secret. I'm proud of the fact that you'd go out with me, and if you and I do end up together, I'll be proud of that too." Stiles managed to both blush and look defiant at the same time, at least until he saw Derek's face.

He'd never seen the wolf smile like that, and it took his breath away. Once again, seeing Derek so happy had Stiles moving without thought, and he closed the gap between them, one hand sliding up to cup the side of Derek's face, tilting his head just so. He leaned in and kissed Derek and then tilted their foreheads together.

"I'm gonna go cook, come on down when you're done in the shower." He stood up, and pulled a pair of sweats and a t-shirt out of his dresser and tossed them on the bed.

With a parting smile, he headed towards the bathroom. He grabbed the bag of tainted clothes, and quickly brushed his teeth. The next time he kissed Derek Hale, he was so not going to keep it chaste for fear of morning breath. That in mind, he pulled out his still packaged new toothbrush, and dropped it on the counter, before heading off to the kitchen, whistling.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Stiles did was drop the bag of contaminated clothes into the kitchen garbage can, and then rewash his hands, just in case. Then he pulled out the pack of sausage links he'd kept hidden on the ledge behind the ice maker. He popped those in a skillet with some water and dropped a lid on them, before pulling out the pancake mix and the electric griddle. He had the lid off the sausages and was rolling them around the skillet, and a fairly respectable stack of pancakes done when his dad walked in, grabbed a cup of coffee and settled against an out of the way counter to watch.

"Thanks." He said, quietly. "For the, uh, door thing."

"No problem, Dad." He started putting the links on a plate, and moved on to eggs. "Thanks for being cool about everything." He said softly, avoiding his dad's eye, a light blush on his cheeks.

"So aside from the mugger and the movie on the couch, what DID you guys do for your date?" He asked, changing the subject.

"We went to Gina's for dinner. He ordered the spaghetti and meatballs." He looked up then and his dad had the same sad smile on his face that he knew was on his own. "I, uh, really think she'd like him." He added before turning back to the eggs.

His dad stood up then and headed towards the dinning room table. As he passed by, Stiles heard him softly say, "She really would."

He's got a platter filled with fried eggs and a small pile of scrambled eggbeaters by the time Derek steps into the kitchen self-consciously. He hands the platter to Derek just as he's opening his mouth in order to offer his help. He just smiles and carries it to the table. Stiles follows with the sausage and the pancakes. His dad had set the table while he cooked the eggs so he grabbed the jug of orange juice and the coffee instead. He topped off his dad's cup and held the coffee pot up questioningly at Derek who shook his head no.

"Is orange juice okay? If not we have milk." Stiles asked.

"Juice is good, thanks." Derek said, sliding into a seat at the table when Stiles pointed towards it.

Stiles poured two glasses and then handed one to Derek, who was sitting very still, glancing warily at his Dad, who had been reading the paper. Almost as if he was waiting for him to notice Derek. Stiles wanted to laugh, but refrained, returning to the kitchen to grab the light butter and lite syrup. When he walked back to the table he had to fight the urge to start snickering. His dad still had the paper up, but was clearly keeping it up because Derek had this look of shear terror. As if the paper was the only barrier between him and death at the hands of a raging parent.

Stiles started fixing plates, his dad's first. For pure good behavior, he added an extra two links to his plate above the agreed upon four, and three pancakes. The small pile of scrambled eggs went on the side and then he passed the plate to his dad.

He got a look when his dad sees his plate, which he rightly translated into, 'I see what you did there, but I'm not going to call you on it because iextra/i sausage.' His dad very carefully folds up the paper, and starts adding butter and syrup to his plate, nose crinkled at the 'lite' syrup, but otherwise pleased with the bounty.

He split the remaining food evenly between two plates, and then passed one to Derek, who was still silently watching the Sheriff with the wariness of a cornered animal.

Taking pity, Stiles spoke up. "You're off today, right, Dad?" He nodded. "Great, I need to take Derek home so he can change and everything, but I was thinking we could order a couple pizzas, maybe watch a couple more Marvel movies this evening. Uh, I mean if you wanted to that is, Derek." He said turning to Derek who had the most adorable 'Deer in the headlight' look. which shifted into this wide eyed 'why did you throw me under the bus?' look.

He nodded jerkily, "Uh... yeah that sounds good."

Stiles smiled at him, pleased, before continuing. "We were going to see The Avengers last night before all the drama, but it turns out Derek hasn't seen any of the others, except you know Iron Man last night, and I know you haven't gotten around to Thor or Cap yet."

"Sounds like fun." His dad said with a smile. "So, Derek, now that things have settled down a bit, how's it being back in Beacon Hills?" He asked, addressing Derek directly for the first time.

Derek swallowed his bite of pancake and egg and cleared his throat. "It's, uh, it's strange. Like most of the time everything looks either completely the same, or totally different, but every once in awhile, I'll find myself looking at some building or a turn in the road, and suddenly I see both, you know, what it was and the changes. It's just a weird sensation."

"Speaking of weird, that reminds me, Dad. I ran into Chris Argent at the gas station yesterday. I think he's looking to talk you guys into a new contract, he mentioned he might be stopping by the office sometime. Personally I doubt the county will put out the money, but 'More Guns' looks good come re-election time, and the Mayor is running next year, so who knows, right."

"Between the new Deputies, we've had to hire, and the damage to the station, I don't know. Then again with all the weird crimes lately, 'More Guns' would appeal to the voters."

Stiles noticed his dad was avoiding the pile of eggs on his plate, but had demolished his sausage. Carefully not looking at his dad, he slid his last two links onto his plate.

His dad rolled the extra sausages up in the last pancake, and munched on it between draining his cup of coffee. "I have some errands to run today, so I'm gonna go ahead and get going. It was nice seeing you again, Derek."

"You too, sir." He said, with a small smile, before wiping his hand on a napkin and shaking the hand the Sheriff was suddenly holding out.

"Stay safe, you two, and if you see any more muggers, icall me./i" He gave Stiles a serious look before leaning over and kissing him on the forehead. "Thanks for breakfast, Kiddo."

"No problem, Dad." He said with a smile, before he started clearing the table and washing up. After a couple minutes Derek came up behind him, bringing his now empty plate.

"What was all that about Chris Argent?" He asked, leaning on the counter.

"The main thing was, he really did mention the guns and coming to see Dad. This way it doesn't look sketchy that I failed to mention it. It also makes Dad aware that I personally know Chris, as opposed to the 'my best friend's ex-girlfriend's dad' sort of way. Now if Dad hears me mention him it's not quite as questionable, plus if I really need to tell Dad something and need a reasonable source, I can play it off as coming from Chris, which he'll buy a lot easier now." As he talked he finished up the dishes, and when he was done, he dried his hands and then turned to face Derek.

He stepped closer and leaned in for a kiss, again moving slowly, giving Derek time to move, which he did. He leaned into the kiss and slid one hand up to rest over Stiles' heart. Stiles slide his hand up and around the back of Derek's neck, cupping his head, thumb rubbing a line back and forth behind his ear. Stiles opened his mouth a little and licked Derek's lips, before nibbling at his bottom lip. When he gasped, Stiles slipped his tongue into the slightly warmer and definitely sweet mouth. Derek's tongue glided over his, and they started pushing back and forth, Derek's tongue exploring his mouth and then Stiles' tongue licking and sucking on Derek's.

They stayed leaning against the counter for almost fifteen minutes, breathing into one another and just kissing. When they finally broke apart, Derek was practically panting. After a moment or two, he caught Stiles' eye and then spoke. "I still want to take this slow while we can, but I do want to move forward. You iare/i who I want to be with, Stiles, for life."

Stiles led him back upstairs, where he shoved all the blankets off the bed, then pulled Derek down with him, so that Derek was laying half on him, half on the bed, and looking more than a little startled at the abrupt shift from upright to laying down. Giggling Stiles lifted his head and darted in to kiss Derek on the nose, which sent his eyes crossed for just a second. Causing Stiles to laugh harder. Derek got an offended look for a moment before it dissolved into a smile.

After he calmed down enough, Stiles asked, "Hopefully we still have time to take this slow, but I need a few more details. I mean there were certain things implied, about what specifically triggers a mating. I am all for taking our actual relationship slow and building it right, but I need to know what specific act or um acts we need to do in order for you to be safe. If your 'fertile stage' starts, I'm not going to risk one of those bastards forcing you and ruining your life. And if by some chance you were mated to someone else, what happens to you, if something were to happen to them?" By the time he got to the word 'them' Stiles was growling, the idea of someone else mating with Derek had the Alpha part of his brain ready to fight, but he concentrated on the weight of Derek's body on his and calmed down.

"It's um, kind of weird, and different for each couple. Generally when the Alpha has proven themselves to the Omega, usually by fighting off other suitors, they begin producing certain pheromones which trigger a drive to mate, to have sex, which then triggers certain pheromone and mental responses in the Omega that trigger other responses in the Alpha. There aren't a lot of werewolf scientists doing studies, so its hard to know what specific things trigger, just what we've seen. Like I said last night, him knocking you out started triggering him, which was starting to trigger me, but you blasted through all that. If he showed up right now, there is no way he'd have even a remote chance of triggering the Omega response."

"You on the other hand hit the mother load of 'right' notes Alpha wise, but you were, as a pack member, upset and riding a scared, adrenalin high, which you knew was gonna crash. Which is why the Alpha part of me began freaking out. I knew we both wanted to go slow and be sure, and suddenly part of me was shifting around trying to submit, and I think you were sending out Alpha signals on one hand and upset Pack on the other. Your instinct was to get you and your potential mate into 'safe' territory and then reassure yourself about my safety. If we didn't have the pack bond, which we both acknowledged and probably strengthened a LOT last night during dinner, your Alpha and my Omega instincts would probably have had us rutting against the wall next to him."

"As to the effects of a lost mate, again it's different for each couple, depending on how strong the bond is, and possibly the will of the pair. For example if there was a very strong connection and no other reason to not give into it, a mate could go insane or even just die from the loss, but that same mate with a child to keep safe, may be able to defer or even out right overcome the instinct to follow one's mate, into death. There are a lot of different stories and romanticized versions of the mate bond and how it effects the couple, so honestly it's hard to say for sure."

"Okay, here's an important question. When we get the 'drive' to have sex, is creating a mate going to require us to actually attempt a mating? I mean can we perform a different sexual act or use protection? Because I do want kids either naturally, when and if you want, or by adoption, but let's be realistic. I'm seventeen years old, and between us we're basically raising three other seventeen year olds, five if we can get Erica and Boyd back, with your wacky undead uncle." Stiles smacked himself in the forehead. "Our lives should be a sitcom, I swear."

"I think as long as you feel like you've truly iclaimed/i me and I feel iclaimed/i back, we're set. Generally there has to be a sense of you dominating the act, whatever it might be, and me submitting to your dominance. That is just the Alpha and Omega bits to it. There's a bit more when it comes to scenting and marking, for the wolf side of things. Those tend to be more instinctive, and usually don't um, take as much thought." Derek said, with a light blush rising on his face.

Stiles thought about it for a moment and then started smiling. "That's what you were doing when I woke up today, wasn't it?"

"Shut up." Derek said, face going redder. He was trying to avoid looking at Stiles, which is why he was completely surprised when Stiles stretched up and licked across his throat. Derek pulled back for a minute and looked down at Stiles. Stiles was a half a second from apologizing, sure he'd done something completely wrong, when Derek darted forward and began kissing him again, with even more passion than before. Lips and tongues and teeth and a low gravely groan, under it all.

Stiles gave as good as he got, and after a few moments he began working his way across Derek's face, to his ear, nibbling and sucking on it before sliding further down to his neck. He began working right below Derek's ear, far too high to hide. He licked and sucked and bit that one spot over and over, until a rough bruise was formed. Stiles moved back to kissing Derek again, thumb riding over the spot he'd just marked, pressing on it.

Every time he touched the mark, Derek would make some illicit noise. Pressing it drew a low moan, scratching across it with his nails lightly had him growling in a way that seemed to shoot straight down Stiles spine and out his groin, and had Stiles pulling Derek fully on top of him.

Derek shifted his legs apart knees on either side of Stiles' legs, which left the bulges in both their sweat pants pressing together. Stiles groaned low in his throat and then grabbed a hold of Derek's hips and shifted them just a little to one side and then down, pulling another growly moan from Derek, who dived back into kissing Stiles, while Stiles used his hands to show him the rhythm to move his hips, slowly building pleasure between them as the material on their sweatpants alternately glided and scraped against each other.

Stiles didn't know how long it went on for, but everything inside of him was winding tighter and tighter and he knew what was going to happen soon. He pulled his mouth from where he'd been sharing languid kisses with Derek to the mark on his neck, again. Just as he felt like he wasn't going to last another second, he pulled Derek down and held him tightly, on hand on his ass the other on the back of his neck, and bit that spot, hard. He came with the tang of blood on his tongue, and pulled Derek right after him.

He slid his hand from Derek's hip to slide through the mixed pool of cum soaking into his t-shirt, trailing his fingers through it before sliding his hand up further, and laying it across the mark on the side of Derek's neck.

Derek pulled back and looked at him with wide, stunned eyes, before diving in and kissing him again, fiercely.


	8. Chapter 8

Stiles stayed under Derek, kissing him for another few minutes before rolling him over so Derek was on his back in the bed, and then climbed up and left the room with a quiet "I'll be right back."

He came back with a warm washcloth and a towel. He sat on the bed and touched the sticky t-shirt Derek was wearing, his eyebrow raised in question, and Derek nodded. Permission granted he helped Derek sit up and pull the shirt off, without making more of a mess. When his hands slid down to the damp sweat pants he hesitated for a moment before Derek's hands started pulling them off. He might have choked just a little at his first look at Derek fully naked, but he only spent a few seconds... okay several seconds, ogling before he began wiping him off with the warm washcloth. He dried him off and then pulled Derek over, so he could examine the mark on his neck.  
The actual bite was healed, but there was still a livid bruise colored hickey that he was almost equal parts ashamed and proud of. He wiped across it; cleaning off the blood and cum that was starting to crust on it.

"It's still in there, you know." Derek said softly. Stiles must have shown his confusion, because he went on, "You and me. Not a lot, but enough stays as it heals. I'm going to smell like you now. A new undertone of Stiles in my scent." He was smiling softly, but Stiles was...

Stiles was freaking the fuck out. "I'm sorry." He said, looking like he wanted to cry.

Derek, who had been almost petting the mark, unconsciously, jerked at his words. "What?"

"I didn't ask. You wanted to take this slow and I didn't fucking bother to ask about permanently altering you."

Derek's face eased up then, and he asked Stiles a question, which threw him. "Did you think about doing that, Stiles? Did you decide biting me was a plan, and then think hey let's douse it in cum?"

"What? No, I wasn't thinking, like normal. It just seemed like..." His voice faded off as realization came to his eyes. "Scenting and marking."

"Which are instinctive and right. You didn't do anything wrong, I promise."

"Shit, what about the other Alphas? One kiss dropped the wolf last night into fight mode. Did I just paint a target on you?" Stiles asked, worried mind already trying to think of ways to protect his mate.

"I don't know, for sure what another wolf will sense. I mean I'm still fairly covered in your scent. I think we're going to have to talk to Peter. None of the others have his control over their senses, or the knowledge to understand what they're sensing."

"Let me get cleaned up and we'll head over to talk to him." Stiles said, before looking down and realizing Derek was still naked. "Um, did you want to throw your clothes back on, or borrow something clean?"

"My stuff's fine, I can always change once I get back to the apartment." Derek stood up and started tracking down all his clothes.

Stiles nodded and then climbed out of the bed. Taking a deep breath, he stripped without looking at Derek, wiped himself off and then pulled on a pair of boxers and jeans. While Derek was getting dressed, he remade the bed and gathered all the dirty clothes. It was a little after Noon by the time they left the house.

When they got moving, Stiles asked something he'd been wondering since realizing what he'd done to Derek. "How do wolves scent and mark humans?" He asked quietly.

"There are a few different ways. If you're not the Alpha you would bite your mate. But traditionally it's the dominant partner who marks the submissive, to show who they belong to." He said, quietly.

"Dude, do I ever do anything traditionally? If you're mine, then I'm yours, and I want people to know it." Stiles looked over at Derek, who beamed back at him before continuing.

"I remember reading something about a tattoo. Maybe scenting the ink before it's used. I think it's another thing we'll have to ask Peter about."

"I wonder if we could do the tattoo without ink, like with the scent alone. At least until I'm 18, I really don't want to cause my dad to have a heart attack over me being tattooed, but I want to be scent marked, as soon as possible."

Derek rubbed his hand along Stiles neck, distracting him until they both heard horns and Derek grabbed the wheel to pull them back into their lane. "Oops. Maybe I should wait on doing that, until we're parked."

"Maybe you should wait until we're in a bed." Stiles said with an over done leer and then a smile.

When they arrived, Derek directed him to a garage door with a keypad. Derek jumped out and punched in his code, before climbing back in while the door raised. "If I'm going to be living here long I'll get one of the door sensors for the Jeep." He said before directing Stiles along the garage to where the Camaro was sitting. He pulled in next to it, and then shut the Jeep off.

One look at the Camaro had Stiles scrambling out of the Jeep and rushing around to Derek's side. Derek turned to see what he wanted, but quickly found himself spun around and leaning against his own car. Stiles pressed against him, and darted in for a kiss, hands sliding up to cup his neck and down to the small of his back, holding Derek in place. When he pulled back, Derek was looking pleased, but very confused.

Stiles just smiled, cheeks a little pink as he explained. "I've wanted to do that every time I've seen you next to that car." He took Derek's hand and they headed for the elevator.

Derek barely has the key in the door before it's jerked open by Peter. "Where the HELL have you been?" He stepped back tilting his head, obviously sniffing at them. "I never expected you'd have an issue with follow through, Derek."

"I'm fairly sure I made it perfectly clear how much this wasn't any of your business, Peter." Stiles snarled at him, stepping in front of Derek.

There was a note of approval in Peter's eyes, before he continued. "It wouldn't be, if you two hadn't let the Alpha pack know you were in the process of mating."

"What's happened?" Derek asked, eyes flashing.

"The wolf you two tangled with last night made it back to the pack. Apparently he was barely alive and covered in another Alpha's pheromones, and since he reported that the two of you left together, the pack is assuming you followed instincts and mated." Peter sneered slightly before catching the glower on Stiles' face and thinking better of it.

"How did you find this out, exactly. I some how doubt you get the Alpha Pack newsletter." Stiles asked.

"Most of it I beat out of the Alpha I helped Isaac and Scott protect Jackson from." Peter replied.

"Why was it after Jackson, some kind of retaliation, because they think they lost their prize?" Derek asked, furiously.

"Apparently, he's the second place trophy. Jackson's an Omega. I should have realized, with his eyes. Despite his Beta status in the pack, he was born an Omega human." Peter explained.

"Fuck, he's more than that, isn't he?" Stiles said, thinking hard. "The Whittemore's run this town. He's the sole heir to a lot of property and money, not to mention the settlement from his birth parents that he gains access to in less than a year... which Erica fucking knew about."

"And if they can control the Whittemore land through him, they can make a claim on at least some of our Territory." Derek said eyes wide. "We need to find him an Alpha, now."

Peter had no sooner turned to look at Stiles, before Derek shifted, growling. "NO!"

"Be reasonable, Derek. The two of you could easily keep him in line, and you never know, it might even be fun." Peter leered at Stiles, earning a swipe from Derek.

"Um... there is no fucking way you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting." Stiles said, staying out of the potential reach of Derek's claws. "Because I like living. I want to keep living. Life has gotten inexplicably wonderful in the last day and there is NO way I'm letting you get me killed over the likes of Jackson."

Peter held out his hand placatingly. "Stiles, once Jackson's properly claimed, the Alpha Pack will have no reason to harass him, or you for that matter."

"Who the HELL is talking about the Alpha Pack." Stiles all but snarled. "I'm more than willing to kill every one of those fuckers at this point. I meant his actual fucking mate. She knows more ways to make a man suffer than you can possibly imagine, otherwise you would have never, EVER crossed her with that whole back from the dead thing. Trust me, I was obsessed with her for years, I _know_ what she's really capable of."

"What are you talking about, Stiles?" Peter asked confused.

"Seriously? You were inside her head and you don't realize Lydia is an Alpha female. She's always had Jackson just this side of collared and leashed. Just let her know what the situation is and he'll be claimed faster than you can say 'Heel, boy.'"

Now Peter looked almost disgusted, but Stiles didn't think it had anything to do with Lydia, herself. "There is a bit of a problem with that. Now that you've made me aware of it, there are certain issues with Lydia I should have realized. If you recall, I mentioned that Alpha females and Omega males have hermaphroditic qualities, that is to say gender specific genitalia and mating specific genitalia. I believe Lydia's parents, since she was human and her doctors unaware of the significance of being born an Alpha, were given the choice to surgically 'correct' what they saw as a defect." Stiles could see how offended and angry Peter was over the situation, and felt the same. "I'm almost completely positive that the mating specific genitalia were removed from Lydia almost immediately after she was born. As such she would be unable to properly claim an Omega." Peter finished.

"Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here, but isn't the point of a mating for the Alpha to feel they have claimed, and the Omega to feel they have been claimed? Like if they psychologically believe it, the bond takes, right?"

"Essentially, that is the nature of the bond, yes." Peter said, looking at Stiles curiously.

"Well why on earth would Lydia need a dick to feel like she owns Jackson? Don't tell either of them about the Alpha female secondary stuff, just that she needs to claim him. Hell, I know for a fact she's marked him already, with her nails. If you don't introduce the doubt of her not having the proper parts, I doubt either of them will notice, or care, and it won't bring any doubt about 'if' she can claim him into play. Plus her gender specific stuff still works, right? If they want kids later in life she can have them the human way."

Both Derek and Peter looked completely gobsmacked.

"Mate with him or turn him, but so help me God, Derek, you don't get that mind of his in this pack you're a fool." Peter said before heading further into the apartment, to get a phone.

They watched him walk away, and then Derek turned to face Stiles. "You know, I think that was the first bit of advice from him in a very long time, I'd completely agree with. You are amazing."

Stiles smirked back. "Is that you're way of telling me you love me for my mind?" He shot back, before realizing what he'd said. "I, uh, I mean not that you, you know..."

"And then you go back to being a dumbass." Derek said before growing serious. "I don't know if what I'm feeling is love, but I really think it might be. I loved my family, but that's not the same thing. I thought I loved Kate. I really did, but even without the shit she did, looking back I can see it was infatuation, pride, and maybe a sort of puppy love." He stopped to glare at Stiles. "No dog jokes. What I felt for her was nothing compared to what I feel for you already. I think that's what really scares me about all of this."

Stiles stepped up to Derek. "I'm pretty damned sure I love you, too." He said, before leaning in and kissing him softly on the lips.

They didn't stop until Peter cleared his throat behind them. "As much as I loath to interrupt what seems to be good solid progress," Stiles growled low in his throat and Peter rushed on. "the others will be here soon. I've asked them to get Lydia, but I'm not sure she'll show up, considering my presence."

"If they tell her it's about Jackson, she will." Stiles said. "Why don't you go on in and change, and I'll get some of our answers from Peter, while we have a chance. With your wolfy hearing you can always listen in."

"Good idea." Derek said before turning and heading further into the apartment.

Eyebrow raised questioningly, Peter led him into the living room. "Would you like something to drink, Stiles? I believe we have some coffee, Pepsi, or some bottles of water?" Peter kept his face blank, but his eyes were dancing in good humor.

Stiles smirked. "I'd love to accept your gracious _hospitality,_ Peter. A bottle of water would be great."

A warm look of approval was on Peter's face as he walked from the room, and then a minute later, back in. "So what questions did you and Derek need answers to?" He asked, passing the cold bottle to Stiles, while dropping a coaster on the coffee table in front of him.

"A lot of it had to do with scenting and marking, but most of it has become moot. We wanted to ask about how much you can sense from his altered scent, but if the Alpha Pack is already aware..."

"Then his scent doesn't matter much. Good point. What else did you want to know about scenting and marking?"

"I want to be scented and marked." Stiles held up his hand to stop a slightly confused looking Peter from talking. "I know it's generally the submissive partner, yadda yadda yadda, but me being the sperm donor to our relationship doesn't make me a better anything than Derek. I want the same mark of ownership because he's going to own me just as much as I own him."

Peter was smiling now. "I knew you were the one, Stiles. I'm assuming your avoiding the standard option?"

"Despite everything the bite can do, we don't know what effects it would have on brain chemistry. Not to pick a fight, but for awhile there you were a bit of a psychopath and I didn't see any magical werewolf powers healing that up. So why would it necessarily help my ADHD? Can you imagine a hyper werewolf? It would be like that old cartoon dog who hopped around the tough bulldog until he got pissy and told it to shuddup- Oh my God, screw the cheesy sitcom, my life is already a fucking Looney Toon." Peter was giving him a look that clearly questioned his sanity. "What I mean is, should something happen where me taking the bite is the only option we have to save my life, then yes by all means, but be ready with the were-bondage games to make sure I don't hurt anyone. Otherwise I don't see it as the best option for me."

"I'm glad you didn't do something stupid like remove it altogether in case of emergency. That being said, you have two other options that I can think of; there was a tattoo method, it wasn't often used by our pack, but I have heard of it, perhaps Deaton will have an idea on how to mix it up, if that is your choice. However, I'd be willing to bet you two have ignored a very obvious answer."

"You're probably right, since we didn't discuss anything other than bites and tattoos." Stiles said, sitting forward. "What are we missing?"

"An Alpha's claws can only turn if the bite is deep and fairly bloody. Our claws are exceedingly sharp, but if the wolf in question isn't trying to maul you, if they have control, they could easily damage just enough to allow for proper marking. Similar to the tattoo without the ink. You would of course have to um, manually scent the area you've prepared, but I'm assuming you already know that can be entertaining in and of itself."

Stiles blushed and nodded. Just then the buzzer sounded, letting them know the others were outside.


	9. Chapter 9

Derek was back by Stiles' side before Peter goes to answer the door. Stiles turned to look at Derek. "So, door number three?" He asks, eyebrow raised.

Instead of answering, Derek shifted, just enough to let out his claws. There were four pinpricks across Stiles' neck and a warm werewolf tongue licking across them before Stiles could say anything.

Derek stepped back and then sniffed in a smug manner. "That will have to do, for now." He said, hand rubbing across where he had just licked.

Stiles pushed him backwards onto the loveseat and slid down beside him, his pleased smile speaking volumes. They both turned to watch the responses when Peter led the others into the room.

Peter leading them into the room was quite fortunate, for all involved, because when Scott scented the room he did three things close enough together as to seem simultaneous. He growled deeply, shifted, and darted into the room. Peter, who had been expecting some sort of reaction, managed to use his momentum against him and spun Scott into the wall behind them, instead of letting him rush the loveseat. He held him pinned against the wall by his head, with one arm locked behind him.

Derek tried to jump up, but Stiles leaned in holding him down, and pretended not to notice the faceplant Scott took into the wall. Isaac had shifted in response to Scott, but calmed down when he realized why Scott had shifted. Jackson merely smirked at Derek and Stiles, then pushed past Isaac to swagger into the room and sit down.

After a minute or so, Scott calmed down enough to shift back, and Peter cautiously let him go. Isaac led him to the couch, and they dropped down on it, Scott giving Derek and Stiles his patented 'Wounded Puppy' eyes, which both ignored.

Lydia trailed in after everyone. She was very obviously ignoring Peter's existence, and walked up to the chair Jackson was sitting in. It took him a moment or two, but he quickly jumped up and let her sit down. Peter took the last seat on the couch and Jackson settled into the ottoman beside Lydia.

The silence in the room stretched out for a moment before Lydia and Stiles both decided to cut through the bullshit at the same moment. "I bet you're wondering..." and "So why the Hell did you losers..." Both stopped abruptly and then Lydia nodded to Stiles. "Go ahead, seems like you were about to answer what I was about to ask."

"Right. Um basically, we have a problem. You all know about the Alpha Pack, right? He looked at Lydia and Jackson, who both nodded. Okay, well there is this whole mating secondary use for the terms Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Sometimes there are even human Alphas or Omegas, but most people are Betas, in general. Peter can run you through it, but the punchline is you can be one in relationship to where you are in the pack and the other in your um, sex lives. The Alpha Pack is actually a pack of Sexual Alphas, or um dominants. They are here because we have Omegas, or sexually submissive members of our pack in two important positions, either in the pack or just in the community, which will give them leverage to take this territory from our pack, because according to stupid traditions when an Omega mates, their Alpha mate assumes control of their stuff and their position in the pack, and if their really assholes, their whole lives. This is stupid and outdated and well stupid covers it, but they believe this, and have tradition on their side."

Lydia was looking at Stiles and Derek, eyebrow raised, and Stiles was fairly sure she'd already guessed something about their situation. "Anyway, Wolves mate for life, so their well thought out and brilliant plan is to fight amongst themselves until they get a winner and the winner basically forces themselves onto the Omega, causing the Omega to be stuck with them for life. Pretty much the only way to stop this is to get different Alphas to mate with the two Omegas in question."

Jackson spoke up then, laughing. "Let me guess, you found out the Alphas were after your ass and ran to Derek begging him to make you his bitch for protection?"

Lydia looked furious for a moment and then the wall of sound that was three different wolves growling at Jackson, violently hit her and she just looked scared. She met Stiles' eyes for a moment and looked down, communicating without words the permission he needed to end this, hopefully without too much bloodshed.

Stiles squeezed Derek's hand and then pushed off the loveseat and stalked towards Jackson, who completely failed to notice until Stiles was right in his space. As he caught scent of Stiles, he shuddered unconsciously. "I wasn't the bitch on offer Jackson, you were. Why else do you think you were the one attacked last night?" Jackson's eyes were dilating and he was swallowing nervously. "It's not my pretty little ass who needs saved." He slid in behind Jackson on the ottoman, hand sliding up Jackson's throat, as he pulled his head back, baring his throat. Stiles' voice became honeyed "And I could save you. I could sink into that ass of yours and own you forever; turn you into my willing bitch open and ready for anyone. You'd beg me to, wouldn't you?" Jackson looked drugged all he could do was jerk his head, nodding. "Thing is, Jackson, I don't want you." Stiles' voice became cold. "I wouldn't mate with you even for all your money, or a chance at your pretty ass. Because when I mate it will be with an equal, not a toy, but I want you to remember this, Jackson. Remember you would have rolled over with just a word." He shoved Jackson to the floor at Lydia's feet and strolled back to Derek, while Jackson slowly woke up, looking at Lydia in horror and apology.

The wolves who had all stopped growling, except Isaac, who'd never started in the first place, all looked stunned. Stiles settled in next to Derek again, taking Derek's hand. "Anyway, as I was saying, one Omega is already squared away, and I'm sure as an Alpha female, Lydia will help you out, if you're a good boy, Jackson."

Lydia's eyes meet Stiles' once more, and the warning in them was clear. Stiles held out his hands, as if to say 'He's all yours'. "You need to claim him, and he needs to know he's claimed. We already know who he belongs to, you two just need to get it figured out, before one of the other Alphas gets to him."

Lydia slid her hand up Jackson's neck and squeezed, eyes not leaving Stiles. "I already know who he belongs to. I'll just have to make sure he understands too." She nodded to the rest of the room and then stood up. "Come along Jackson, we have some things to discuss." She left, with him following in her wake.

After the door shut, Scott turned towards Stiles and Derek. "Dude, what the Hell? You went to Derek for help, and what was all that with Jackson?" Even Isaac was giving Scott incredulous looks now, and Stiles had to fight the urge to smack himself in the face. Peter looked like he'd just found out Scott's password all over again.

"That thing with Jackson was an Alpha putting a douchebag in his place for insulting his mate, even if he didn't realize. That was also me protecting Jackson from getting his throat ripped out. And yes, for the record, I went to Derek; I'm _with_ Derek. We're going to be mated, and other than the fact that you're my friend, you're not involved. Or is this somehow now your pack? Now is the time to decide, Scott, because, pardon the pun, but the fucking Wolves are at the door, and we need to know you've got our backs; I need to know you've got MY back."

Scott nodded, "Always, bro, always. If you're mating, you're in for life right? Where else am I gonna be, after everything?"

Isaac reached out and took his hand, and the two of them shared a smile. Peter looked smug, but had the good sense not to comment. Derek just squeezed Stiles' hand, and smiled at him.

"Not to pack build and run, but Derek and I have a movie date, with my Dad, and I wanna pick up some snacks, before Dad does." Stiles said, getting ready to stand up.

"Whoa, you're Dad knows about Derek?" Isaac, surprisingly enough, said, eyes wide.

"He knows we're dating, not the whole grows fur and fangs stuff. He's the Sheriff, even if I wanted to keep this a secret, which I don't, he'd hear things. Beacon Hills isn't that big, and people are nosy and overly helpful. Shit I'm amazed some good citizen hasn't already warned my Dad about how much time I spend with you bunch of hooligans." Stiles smirked.

"Yes, I'm sure he'd soon hear about the many flavors of bad influence, if you were seen with the lot of us." Peter said grinning back at Stiles. "Hopefully this will alleviate some of that."

"That's why we're doing stuff like tonight. I want him to know I'm not hiding this from him, and Derek deserves to not be hidden."

Derek pulled him back down for a kiss, which caused Scott to whine from the couch. It was cut off abruptly when one of the wolves beside him elbowed him in the ribs. Derek pulled away and turned to speak to the other wolves for the first time since they'd arrived. "Peter, if you can, see if you can find any more information about mating and anything that might be relevant with Jackson and Lydia's situation."

Peter nodded. "Of course. I'll check out the laptop and a few of our old sources. I don't expect to find anything more, but with the extra little twist on things that those two will have to deal with, it's possible I missed something, however unlikely."

"Scott, Isaac, could you two keep an eye on Lydia and Jackson. Not too close an eye, since they deserve privacy, but maybe stay in the vicinity? The Alpha Pack is still after him."

Isaac and Scott nodded, and then stood and left, still hand in hand. Peter followed behind them a few steps.

The minute they were gone, Stiles turned and buried his face in Derek's chest. "I'm sorry." He said, muffled.

"What the Hell are you sorry for, Stiles?" Derek asked, confused. He pulled Stiles up so they could look at one another.

"For Jackson, for what I did, for how everyone is acting... take your pick or just you know, all of it." He replied, looking anywhere except at Derek.

"You didn't hurt Jackson, except for his pride, and honestly if one of us had corrected his little fit, it would have been much more painful, and possibly countered Lydia's claim in some way. You did what needed doing and made it obvious you don't want him. I know taking him would be easier on you in some ways. He's closer to your own age, he's popular, and annoying enough that you'd really enjoy dominating him." Derek looked away.

"Are you really this insecure or are you just fishing for compliments, Derek? If I want to dominate someone I have you right here," He leaned up over Derek, before darting his mouth down and nipping at the still bruised area on his neck. "and if I want to be dominated, what do you know, _you're_ right here too." He slithered down his stomach until Derek was just a little higher than him and bared his neck. Derek lapped at the tiny marks he'd made earlier.

Stiles stayed still for a few minutes, while Derek alternated between dotting his neck and shoulder with tiny nail marks, and lapping over them. Slowly, Stiles slid lower and lower, kissing down Derek's neck and nosing a button undone every so often. Once the shirt was opened all the way, he licked and nibbled down Derek's stomach, and then down to his jeans. He looked up at Derek with a silly grin before opening the fly as best he could with his tongue and teeth, over exaggerating the movements. Derek laughed, remembering Stiles' comment from the night before last. Stiles worked the jeans down just far enough to pull Derek out, and then slid one hand up to cup and stroke his balls before wrapping his other hand around the base of his cock and licking slowly across the head.

Derek practically arched off the loveseat and shifted until his legs were spread wider around Stiles, who was now on his knees between them. Fangs slowly bit into his own lips as his eyes shifted red and then back, slowly. One hand clawed into his leg, only slightly more gentle than when he tried to clear out the kanima toxin. Stiles shifted his hands so he was still encircling the base of his cock, but moved the other to thread their fingers together, keeping Derek's hand from gouging into his own leg. Their eyes locked and Stiles slowly slid further down the shaft, lips tight, tongue sliding around it as he pulled up again, and swirled across the head, lapping up the drop or two of precum before slipping down again, further each time. The hand at the base was stroking up, thumb riding along the prominent vein, stroking and pressing along it, building up a tempo between mouth and hand.

Derek's other hand shot out, stroking down the side of Stiles' head, cupping his neck and then settling on his marked shoulder, slowly stroking across it. He was breathing harshly, panting faster as Stiles slowly increased the tempo. Every once in awhile Stiles' tongue would press in, just below the head and every time Derek would let out a low growling moan. By the time he was close to cumming, he could barely breath, shallow pants and moans and 'Oh God's escaped his mouth without thought until his whole body pulled taut. The nails on Stiles' shoulder dug in, more than he meant to, just deep enough to bleed and Stiles let the first spurt of cum fall across his tongue before pulling away and letting the rest paint stripes across his chin and his cheeks.

Derek took a moment, gasping for air, before he pushed forward, down on his knees in front of Stiles, kissing him, while stroking his hand across his lower face, smearing it with cum before stroking it over the marks on Stiles' shoulder. Once he was satisfied, he pulled Stiles, head back, just a little, licking the cum that was left on his chin and cheeks, before kissing him again. He slid his hand down to cup Stiles, who was hard and trapped in his jeans still. He pushed Stiles back onto the carpet, unbuttoning and unzipping him as he did.

Stiles was flat on his back, knees bent and splayed as Derek crawled in between them. He slowly lapped his tongue across the almost purple head of Stiles' cock, causing him to gasp and moan softly. Derek slid his jeans down far enough to get more access and then slid his mouth over Stiles, hands on either side of his hips, holding him in place. He slipped further and further down, in almost agonizing slowness, tongue pressing against the underside of Stiles' dick. Derek waited till he was touching the back of his throat, gagging slightly before sliding back up halfway and then back down, just a little further each time. He swallowed around him slowly, breathing through his nose; tongue stroking where it could.

Stiles lifted his head and looked down as Derek swallowed him entirely, mouth stretched wide. Their eyes locked and suddenly Stiles' mind just whited out with the force of his orgasm. Even the weight of Derek and his hands holding him down, couldn't completely halt the arch of Stiles' back as he shot down Derek's throat, his breath stuttered and stopped for several long seconds as his mouth dropped into a frozen 'Oh' of a moan.

When he started being able to process his surroundings again, Derek was crawling up his body, and Stiles watched as Derek's mouth seemed to go from almost raw looking to normal, while Stiles' jaw ached and his lips were red and swollen still. The unfairness of that had him sucking and nibbling on Derek's bottom lip before kissing him deeply. They lay there kissing and snuggling on the floor half undressed for a long time. Neither felt like moving, and didn't, until late in the afternoon.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: This is your warning for Het/Threesome sexual activity with the secondary 'pairing'.

* * *

Lydia stormed out of Derek's apartment, with Jackson trailing behind her. She climbed into the passenger side of the Porsche and waited for him to get in the drivers seat. Once he did she just told him to take her home. He pulled up in front of her house and she directed him to pull into the driveway and got out. Jackson followed along again looking like a kicked puppy.

Enough was enough. She reached up and gripped his face in one hand, nails digging in slightly along the sides of his face. "Look at me Jackson." she commanded.

He looked down at her tears making his eyes glassy though they weren't falling yet. "I'm sorry." he said repeatedly, his voice breaking randomly as he started to lose it.

"What exactly are you sorry for, Jackson? Biology? Or do you secretly want Stilinski? Hmm? No? I didn't think so, but you do want what he offered, don't you?"

He nodded, sobbing and dropped to his knees.

She ran a hand through his hair and then gripped it, before speaking fiercely. "You belong to me Jackson. You know that right?" She waited until he was nodding and leaning against her thigh before she continued. "You know I always take care of the things that are mine, and you are mine. I already knew you needed something more. I'm going to make sure you get it, Jackson, but you will listen to everything I tell you and you will do whatever I say, won't you?"

He nodded again, holding her tighter. "I want you, Lydia. I do, I swear I do."

"I know you do Jacks, I know." She took out her phone one, hand petting him while she dialed. "Hi, it's Lydia. Can you come over? We need to talk. It's about Jackson."

When she got off the phone she pulled Jackson to his feet, and then led the still upset boy up to her room. She pulled off his jacket and then pushed him down on the bed, to remove his shoes and socks. Once that was done, she laid down in the bed, holding him and letting him doze off, head on her shoulder while she waited and planned.

The doorbell woke her up and she climbed out of bed, leaving Jackson sitting there, groggy and hair rumpled to go answer it. She led her guest back up the stairs and into the bedroom. "Danny, I wanted to talk to you about everything that's been going on. About all the strange shit with Jackson that hasn't made sense for months. The weirdness is unavoidable after awhile, and you deserve to know what has been happening, but it's a shocker, so I want you to first remember that you need to be calm. Remember that Jackson is your friend, and don't freak out, no matter how much this actually calls for freaking out. Okay?"

Danny looked at her very, very strangely, and then just nodded.

Lydia grabbed Jackson's hand and just said "Jackson, show him."

He looked at her confused for a moment or two, and then she squeezed his hand and nodded, "Do it, Jackson."

He shifted and Danny jumped back in the chair, staring at him, and then at Lydia for a moment or two before leaning closer. He cautiously climbed out of the chair and approached a trembling Jackson. "Is this.. are you for real? Is he a-"

"A werewolf, yes, he is. There was this whole lizard being controlled by someone else thing, but now, he's a wolf, and now you know."

Danny started laughing then, a hysterical edge to it. "Now I know? What I know is I'm fairly sure I've been committed, because my best friend is not a creature of the God damned night."

"Technically a creature of the night is a vampire... or a hooker, but um, yeah not a vampire... look no sparkle." She said pulling Jackson's arm into the sunlight streaming in one window.

Danny started laughing for real then, nearly falling to the floor with it. "Jack- heheh Jackson wo-would never be something so-sso-so completely cliche as a glitter vampire... "

"Of course he wouldn't he had to be the first were-lizard turned werewolf in town. He's lucky I love him so much, because let me tell you, he would have made a fabulous belt and purse." Lydia said, holding back a laugh while Jackson just looked offended... in were wolf face.

Lydia and Danny both took one look at his jutted out pouty lip and both hit the floor laughing. Jackson shifted back to normal and flopped down on the bed with a harrumph of agitation at the pair of them. He was ignoring the both of them until Lydia started talking again.

"You're in love with him, aren't you? " She asked, out of nowhere. Danny jerked his eyes from where he'd been watching Jackson pout to her, eyes wide and shaking his head.

"It's okay Danny I know you love him, I do too."

"Lydia, I don't... I wouldn't..." Danny was staring at Lydia, but refused to look at Jackson at all.

Jackson had sat up in the bed, sliding close to the headboard, looking back and forth between the two, swallowing convulsively.

"It's Okay, Danny. I'm not accusing you of anything, and it's okay to be in love with him. I am. You have to know by now though, don't you?" Danny fell back into the chair again, hand out as if he could hold back her words. "All those boyfriends, who were superficial and mean and pretty, you were trying to find your Jackson, but you never found one with the heart underneath all the pretty and mean, so they didn't realize what they had. They didn't have Jackson's heart, and were apparently utter imbeciles if they don't see how great you are."

Now Jackson was alternating between staring at Danny and Lydia. She moved forward, leaning in and putting her hands on the arms of the chair Danny was sitting in. "You love him, and you're afraid to lose your best friend if you try to have him. Plus, you're not entirely stupid, so you realize he's mine. Generally I don't share, I mean I REALLY don't share, but Jackson, already belongs to you too. You're both just too afraid to make it real."

Danny's heart was racing, and he sucked in a breath before steeling himself to respond. "Like I've already told Jackson, he's not my type."

Jackson jerked up at that, looking straight at Danny. Lydia noticed out of the corner of her eye and smirked. "Jackson's everyone's type, and besides that, you just lied, didn't he, Jacks?"

"He did, he totally did." Jackson said, still staring at Danny.

"There are a couple funny things about werewolves, Danny, they're pretty much the best lie detector on the planet." Lydia leaned in to whisper in Danny's ear. "And they mate for life."

Danny jerked at that, staring at her. "They... what?"

"You think you might be able to have him once, or for a while, and then he'll go back to wanting me, and you'll lose the person you love, and your best friend. That is the only reason you never tried anything with Jackson, isn't it?"

Danny refused to answer, so she continued. "I know I was afraid of that, and then he did dump me, because lets face it, Jackson's pretty and smart, but he has a distinct lack of common sense. He thought I'd leave him eventually, so he left first. Just like you think he'll leave eventually. I think we need to do something about that. I think you _want_ to do something about that. Jackson is mine, but I'm not stupid or greedy to see he's yours too, and I'm perfectly willing to share. Now the question is, are you?"

She stepped back and slid behind Jackson, on the bed. She pulled Jackson's shirt off and rested her hand over his heart. "Who does Jackson belong to, Danny?"

He stood up, surging towards the bed, as he spoke. "He's _ours_."

FL*FL*FL*

Once they got moving again, Derek and Stiles quickly cleaned up and headed back to the Garage. They stopped at the store and stocked up on some healthy movie snacks. Stiles just smiled when Derek made sure to grab cheese and caramel popcorn, along with a box of the microwave stuff. Instead of hoping the pizza place would have anything not bound to take years off his dad's life, Stiles grabbed a pack of pre-baked pizza rounds, some sauce and cheese, and then went to cruise the produce department for some healthy toppings. Once he was satisfied they had enough healthy provisions, they checked out, while he texted his dad to make sure he knew Stiles had the pizza covered. The whole shopping trip would have been a waste of time if his dad came home with some artery blockage in a box.

Once they got back to the house, they settled in the kitchen, Derek chopping or slicing whatever Stiles handed him, while Stiles grabbed out a couple frozen chicken breasts, and dropped them in some water to boil. Then he threw a red pepper into the oven to roast, and dug out a few of the turkey sausage links his dad had avoided at breakfast. He cut them up and threw them in a skillet to brown. After all the prep work was done, they began assembling the pizzas. They ended up with a sausage and veggie, a chicken broccoli and cheddar, and a 'kitchen sink' blend of just about every bit of left over toppings. They were just going into the oven when Stile's dad got home. He nodded hello to both of them and then asked about their day.

"We swung by Derek's place, and hung out a little with Peter, Scott and Isaac. Jackson and Lydia stopped by for a few minutes, but luckily that didn't last too long. Nothing can ruin a good day like dealing with Jackson." Stiles said, making a face.

Derek grinned at him while his dad asked a question. "Peter?"

The pair shared a look before Derek answered. "My Uncle Peter Hale. He's staying with me, for now. Once we get something done about the house, I figure he'll move back in there, but we haven't really discussed it much."

"I thought he had some health issues, uh..." The Sheriff didn't seem sure how to continue the question.

"He was in long term care, because of the fire." Derek said, grimacing.

Stiles quickly took over, a hand on Derek's shoulder in support. "Peter started coming out of his, shit I don't think it was actually a coma, but his um, fugue state maybe? Last year. He was still really having troubles, and he went away for awhile, but since he's been back, he's been a lot better. I think he's really making progress." Stiles explained.

"I used to know Peter, a little that is. His wife, I guess that would have been your Aunt Anna, worked at the station, way back when I was a deputy, so I'd see him around some. I glad to hear his healths improving." He gave Stiles a squinty look. "Don't let me hear you've been bothering him, while he recuperates, Stiles."

"Trust me, even with all my powers of annoyance, I doubt very much I'm qualified to bother Peter." Stiles muttered, spinning to concentrate on rotating the pizza pans, instead of looking at his dad.

Derek wasn't helping matters much by practically snickering. When the Sheriff raised an eyebrow, he shrugged with a small smile. "Peter is actually the one who pointed out we were both being idiots. He kind of pointed out that I liked Stiles, and when I didn't think Stiles liked me, he talked to Stiles instead."

He was blushing now and Stiles' Dad was stifling down his glee at watching supposed bad seed Derek Hale shuffling his feet and blushing. The fact that Stiles was blushing as well, and practically sticking his head in the oven to avoid eye contact was just too much. He quickly made his excuses and went up to his room to change and have a good laugh.

FL*FL*FL

Danny couldn't believe he was here, doing this, but despite that, this seemed inevitable, fated, whatever romanticized crap you wanted to call it. Jackson was his, was Lydia's and that, that felt more right than it had ANY right to. He was straddling Jackson's leg. They were breathing the same air and Jackson was just looking at him like he felt the same way, like Danny was the one thing he wanted, and like he couldn't quite believe he was allowed to have him, have this. Lydia ran her hand down the side of Jackson's face, soothing him, reassuring him.

Danny caught his eye, and leaned in slowly and then kissed him. It was soft and tentative, and then it just wasn't. It was frantic and dirty and teeth and tongues and every fucking thing he could possibly want. After only God knows how long, Danny pulled away, hand on the side of Jackson's cheek. "Is this what you want, Jacks? The two of us?" His only answer was a quick nod before Jackson dove forward again and recaptured his mouth.

After another breathless and frantic kiss, Lydia was pulling Jackson up onto the bed further, and Danny realized she was naked, but mostly covered by Jackson's body. Her hands wrapped around him and her nails were scraping across Jackson's chest, across his nipples and he was staring at Danny, panting. Danny began working at his fly unbuttoning and unzipping before pulled his pants down, and then his tight briefs too.

Jackson raised himself up, helping Danny slide them down, and freeing himself, but stopped himself from touching when Lydia's nails dug in just a little harder. Instead he reached for Danny and pulled him back down for another kiss, after Danny threw Jackson's pants across the room and stripped himself down. That done he crawled back up Jackson's body, smiling at Lydia before kissing him again, their bodies sliding against each other.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked at her again, needing to make sure she understood. "Lydia, I... he's ours, but you and me..."

Thankfully she cut him of, quickly understanding what he was saying. "I know, Danny. We're going to be together with him for life, but that just means we're going to be partners. You're gay, don't get me wrong, you're very pretty, and if you were bi, I'd be totally open to it, but I don't expect you to change who you are just because we're in this together. We're both here for Jackson. We're his just like he's ours. That doesn't make us anything more to each other than friends and partners." She smiled and he couldn't help, but smile back. He could live with that, happily.

He pulled back, pulling Jackson with him, and turned him around, so that he was facing Lydia. While Jackson was off of her, Lydia reached into a drawer and pulled out a small bottle of lubricant and a couple condoms. Danny grabbed one and tore it open, sliding it up Jackson's hard dick before pushing him back down on the bed. He grabbed the lube and the second condom and settled down at the bottom of the bed.

Jackson was on one knee, kissing up Lydia's thigh, when Danny opened the lube and squeezed a little on his fingers. He slid a finger down the crack of Jackson's ass, stroking across his tight opening. Lydia raised a knee and Jackson licked higher, and then as Danny's finger slid into him, he started trailing his tongue up and down Lydia's folds, until he found that particular bundle of folded skin and nerve endings. As Danny pushed in a second finger, Jackson and Lydia started breathing heavier at almost the same time.

Jackson slid three fingers inside Lydia a few seconds before Danny worked a third and fourth into him. He was gasping a little against her clit between licks and nibbles by the time the fingers were pulled from him. He almost whined, but there were hands on his hips, shifting him up, and hands on his shoulders pulling him up and then forward. Lydia shifted further down the bed and pulled Jackson up over her, until she was sucking on his neck, biting and nibbling and he was just starting to slip into her. She reached down, hands to his hips and squeezed, holding him right on the verge, while Danny slipped his condom on and then positioned himself behind Jackson.

Danny slowly pushed into Jackson, while Jackson slid into Lydia. Danny sank all the way into Jackson and began sucking and biting the opposite shoulder from the one Lydia was marking vigorously. After a few seconds, Danny pulled back slowly almost entirely out before pushing in again. They slowly started to build a rhythm, Jackson sliding onto Danny's cock and then into Lydia, rolling his hips and fucking them both enthusiastically. He reached a hand up to stroke across one of Lydia's nipples and when Danny's hand was near his mouth, he started licking on a finger, before drawing it into his mouth, sucking on it. They were writhing against one another, each thrust in either direction sending them spiraling closer to the edge.

Lydia fell over first, a thumb riding her clit along with Jackson's deep thrusts pushing her. She gasped and bit hard against Jackson's shoulder, her nails digging into his back and side, clawing fresh marks that bled and healed. She clenched her muscles around Jackson's shaft as he rode through her orgasm. Danny followed her down, biting Jackson's shoulder as his whole body pulled taut and he slammed into Jackson once more. The feeling of both of them pulled Jackson down and he threw his head back, arching his body as he came, eyes that eerie shade of blue, before slumping down and forehead pressed into Lydia's shoulder.

The three of them cleaned up and then fell together in the bed, two sets of arms entwined around Jackson, and dozed until well after dark. Danny and Jackson had just stepped outside, planning on stopping at each of their houses for a change of clothes, when Scott and a limping Isaac called out a warning, from halfway down the block.

The only thing Jackson would remember after was an impression of bright light, Danny screaming his name, and the howls of his pack.

FL*FL*FL

Derek, Stiles, and his dad were all in the living room watching Thor get tasered and eating pizza. Remembering his dad's complaint about not wanting to know what healthy stuff was in anything, Stiles didn't mention how nutritious the pizza was. Between them they managed to finish off all but about three-fourths of one pizza. After watching the end credit scene, Stiles put away the leftover pizza and threw together a bowl of the tri-corn before they got into Captain America.

Derek slipped into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Stiles, while they waited for the microwave popcorn to finish popping. They very nearly burned it though, when Stiles took the opportunity to spin around and pin Derek to the fridge, and kiss him, instead of listening for the pops to slow down. Luckily, Derek's nose caught scent of the popcorn just before it could actually scorch.

They snuggled a little closer on the couch for the second movie, Stiles leaning on Derek's shoulder, and holding his hand. When the movie ended, the sheriff told Stiles to make sure he locked up again, when he got home and went to bed, after saying goodnight to them both.

They were just stepping out to the Jeep when something smashed into Stiles' face, knocking him back into Derek's arms. Derek grabbed a hold of him, but he was quickly pulled away, while yelling Stiles' name, and shoved into a van by what had to be four Alpha wolves. Stiles slid his hand into his pocket and jerked to his feet to run after them, flicking open the knife he'd pulled out as he ran, but the van started and peeled away, even as they were fighting to get the door closed. Stiles dove towards his Jeep to go after them, when he saw the slashed tire. "Son of a Bitch!"

Someone came up behind him and he very nearly sliced his dad open, just barely pulling back in time. "Woah, there. It's me, it's only me." He said, trying to calm Stiles down. "Those were some of the Alpha wolves that have been lurking around town, right?" He asked, stunning Stiles.


	11. Chapter 11

"How do you-" Stiles stopped himself. "No, you know, I'll ask how later, right now, I need to get help." He started dialing his cellphone, but before he could hit send, it rang in his hand.

"Hello? Oh thank God- What! When? The bastards took Derek, too. Is she okay? Danny? Why was... yeah okay. Look I'm going to the school, have Isaac get Lydia there, I'm sending you a list, get to Deaton's and fill it. Then meet us in the chem lab." Stiles hung up, and turned to his dad. "I know you know something, and I would love to have time to explain this, but I can't. I need your keys. I have to get to the school. The same people who just took Derek took Danny and Jackson too, and they're going to..." He couldn't even vocalize it, he just gritted his teeth and reached for his Dad's keys.

"If you think I'm letting you go off by yourself after killer Werewolves, you're nuts. Get in the damned car, I'm driving." He ordered, before dropping a duffel bag into the back and climbing into the driver's seat.

Stiles stared after him, stunned for a moment before snatching the box and another bag out of the rear of the Jeep and climbing into the passenger seat of his dad's car. He quickly began dialing again. "Peter, the Alphas grabbed Derek, Jackson, and for some reason Danny. Get the stuff ready to track their phones and meet me at the school. Derek had his for sure, even if they aren't cocky enough to leave him with it, they may not toss it out. It's probably our only shot that doesn't involve you three running around howling. Yeah, bye."

He stared at his dad for a moment, not sure how much he knows, or even how to begin. Before he can decide, his dad takes it out of his hands. "So... werewolves, eh?"

"How did you find out?" He blurts out, still reeling too hard from the attack and Derek to be overly freaked about this.

"Shooting something in the chest six times, and not stopping it is a Hell of an eye opener. Watching another man drop it with one shot is a Hell of a sales pitch." He said, eyes on the road.

"Chris freaking Argent." Stiles grumbled, before he could jerk to look at his dad again and ask, "Who did he shoot?"

"Don't you mean what?" His dad asked, voice devoid of emotion as he waited for an answer.

"No I mean who. They're people. Not always good people, but yeah, people. Was he... she... were they attacking someone?"

"I'm not exactly in the habit of shooting someone when they are just standing around twiddling their thumbs, Stiles." His dad glared at him. "He, was tearing the throat out of some guy who wandered alone in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple nights ago. Argent said he was one of this Alpha Pack."

Stiles ground his teeth together. "Those bastards have a lot to answer for. The lot of them, from what I can tell, are rapists and more than a few murderers. I've been tracking the packs movements as best I can, between the few hunters I can get information out of online, crime statistics and news reports. Everywhere I have confirmed sitings has a spike in violence. Murders, rapes, and assaults, and that's above and beyond the destruction of any packs in the area and forcing biological slavery on any Omega they can find. They're done, they just don't know it yet." He hissed, eyes burning in fierce rage.

"What happened to 'they're people'?" His father asked, carefully, face blank.

"Do not go all Buffy on me. Having a soul doesn't make you a good vampire. Not that werewolves lack souls or that vampires are real... God I hope not." Stiles scrubbed his hands over his face and head. "It isn't some werewolf thing that makes them murderers and rapists and all around assholes, it's what they choose to do, how they choose to use the power they have. You can choose to help people, you can choose to hurt people, or you can choose to ignore them. Everyone on the planet makes that choice. Being a wolf doesn't predetermine your answer any more than being human does."

"So what's your choice, Son?"

"I choose to help, by stopping them. Can you honestly see you and your deputies taking down a whole pack full of creatures that take six bullets to stop. Hell, I know for a fact even Chris Argent's bullets don't automatically kill them unless you make a hell of a good shot. His sister shot Derek, and I watched the bullet hole close up in a matter of seconds, with the right treatment, and that was a full twenty four hours after he'd been shot, and with him being a Beta at the time. Alphas are tougher."

His dad looked at him, eyes wide.

"These Alphas need stopped, and your deputies aren't equipped to deal with them, and even if you told them, how many would believe? Better yet, how many wouldn't see one bad group and decide to exterminate them all? Chris Argent follows a code, but even in his own family they broke it, over and over, killing innocent people. Kate, his father, Hell his wife tried to kill Scott and Derek, just because Scott was dating Allison. The night I was beat up? That was from Argent; a message to keep Scott in line. One I made sure NOT to deliver."

Now his dad was furious. "Chris-"

"No, his dad. He didn't know, but if I had been a wolf, he might not have fucking CARED. I can respect Chris Argent's code, but the man, is a dick. He let his seventeen year old daughter shoot two other teenagers full of arrows, and then helped her tie them up in the basement and set up some sick version of shock treatment to keep them too weak to break loose, because they were werewolves. They never attacked anyone and they were running away, but they wanted leverage and he LET them do it. It took him hours and hours of them being tormented like that to decide his precious code was finally important enough to uphold. Gerard Argent was a bastard and I'm glad he's dead, but at least he wasn't a fucking hypocrite. Chris Argent helped his wife die, because she was too much of a bigot to live as a wolf and he was too much of a coward to stand up to his father and stop her."

"They're wolves, but they're people, so don't let Chris Argent or these Alpha's twist you around about that. Scott is a person, a damned good person. Derek is a person. Hell, do you know how close it came to being me turned instead of Scott, and that's not even counting the time he flat out offered to turn me."

"Scott offered to turn you?" His Dad asked, gripping the wheel.

"No, the rogue Alpha that turned Scott. That bitch Kate took Derek. The rogue wanted him back, because the more wolves under them the more powerful the Alpha, and I figured out a way to track Derek. That's when Lydia was attacked at the field. I had get him away from her, and I was afraid if I refused he'd just kill her. Luckily he let me call Jackson."

"Why didn't you ever tell me any of this, Stiles?" He kept his eyes on the road.

Stiles sucked in a breath and blew it out before he started talking. "Some of it wasn't my secret to tell. It felt wrong betraying that trust, you know. Then I think I convinced myself the only reason we were in so much danger was BECAUSE we knew too much. Like if you don't see it, it can't see you. I knew, if you knew about all of this you'd want to help and I just kept seeing you dead. Eventually it was so big in my mind that I didn't know how I could ever possibly tell you, because there's already so much, you know? I'd put up these stupid walls to keep you safe and all I did was keep us separated. And when it came down to it, I couldn't protect you. I couldn't get to you and some nutball was pistol whipping you because I had made us a target, by trying to stop him. It was like every nightmare I'd ever had come to life and just like in a nightmare, I was paralyzed, literally crawling to get to you and knowing I wasn't going to get there in time; that Matt was going to kill you in front of me. And he would have, he sent the kanima after you, and if it wasn't for Derek and then Scott..."

"Kanima?" His Dad asked, glancing over at him while taking a sharp right.

"It's basically a turning that takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque."

"Stiles!"

"Sorry, I just mean, it was supposed to be a wolf, but something messed with the turning. We never figured out exactly what, genetics, mental issues, I don't know, but instead of a wolf it becames this sort of werelizard slash werejaguar; at least that's what the bestiary said. It uh, seemed more lizard to me, except the tail; that was pretty cat like. Anyway, it was what Matt used to kill people. The kanima is basically a slave it's meant to kill murderers. The person inside didn't know, didn't want to believe us. It was at the police station that night. It paralyzed me and Derek when he came to help because Matt told it to. Gerard Argent killed Matt, we think, because he took over controlling the kanima until the night I got taken."

"It was Jackson Whittemore, wasn't it? That's what that whole supposed prank was about?"

"We were trying to keep him safe, and keep everyone else safe from him, but he wouldn't believe us, didn't want to believe us. I mean who would, right? Who would want to believe that they've murdered people? I don't think he really accepted what was happening until that night. He paralyzed himself, overdosed himself on his own toxin, because Gerard was using him to threatening Scott. He was supposed to kill people when those lights dropped out, only he overcame Gerard's control long enough to take himself off the board instead. Lydia finally got through to him, but Gerard left him with a final command, to kill all of us. Derek and Peter had to stop him, and Jackson let them. He was dead, again like who does that, twice in one night, especially someone like Jackson? Who acts like the biggest douche on the planet, and then basically kills themselves twice to protect people?"

His dad reached out a hand and took his, squeezing it. "Apparently, whatever crap was blocking the change kicked in right then, and his wolf just took over, and healed him right up. Ever since he's been a wolf not a lizard. He's still Jackson though, so you know, still the worlds biggest douche, but he's ours and those bastards have him and Danny and De-" Stiles took a gulping breath, fighting back panic. "Derek."

"We'll get him back, son. We'll get them all back."

"We're going after them. Me and the rest of the pack if they'll follow me." Stiles said, purposefully not looking at his Dad.

"I don't like it, but I understand it, Stiles. Just like you're going to have to understand that I'm coming too. What about the Argents? I know you don't like him much, but Chris has weapons and can maybe provide backup."

"He blames Derek for his wife. Allison blames him, too. Neither of them seem to care that she was trying to _kill_ Scott at the time and nearly killed Derek too. I don't trust them to not get in a 'lucky' shot, But if you're serious about coming in, do you still have access to the riot gear the government supplied a few years back, you know the crowd control stuff?"

"Sure, it's all just collecting dust in the store room."

"I need to get Lydia cooking up some supplies, and find out where they're at before we go after them, can you drop me off at the school and pick up stuff if I write you a list?"

His dad was sort of hesitant when he spoke again. "There was something else Chris Argent mentioned after he was done explaining the basics of this uh, stuff to me. He said that you might be in particular danger from these Alpha wolves."

"What? Me? Why?" He asked, confused.

Apparently they look for people who are um, something called an Omega, and he seems to think you're a human Omega. Naturally submissive." His dad explained, a little out of his comfort zone mentioning anything even remotely sexual in nature to Stiles.

Stiles stared at him, stunned for more than a few seconds, before he broke out into laughter. "Leave it to an Argent to look at a picture and completely misinterpret it. I'm going to clarify, but this doesn't EVER get back to anyone named Argent. I'm not giving those bastards information about _my_ mate that they might use to hurt him. Besides if they're stupid enough to think I'm an Omega, they'll always underestimate me. I'm not an Omega, Dad. I'm an Alpha. A human Alpha. And Derek? He is both an Alpha, the leader of our pack, and a sexual Omega. That is why Peter approached me to let me know Derek liked me. Those bastards took him, before we could properly bond and then they plan to rape him. Once that happens, they will steal everything that means anything to him, including his free will, and the most positive option is his rapist doesn't like sharing."

"Jesus." His dad muttered.

"Jackson is one too, but for some reason they grabbed Danny, and Danny isn't a wolf OR an Omega, so I don't even know what the Hell that is."

Lydia was suddenly at his window, and answering. "Danny is Jackson's other mate. The one who's not immune to a werewolf bite." Stiles stared at her stunned for a minute before he started talking again. "Oh fuck. They're gonna turn Danny, and if they control Danny they have control of Jackson. The thing is though, I don't think Danny is gonna play ball even if they turn him, and they'll kill him." He was ready to freak out and then just forced himself to breath. After a minute or so he turned to face his Dad. "Go grab the stuff we need, please, Dad. I promise we'll wait for you before we go in, but we're going to need that stuff.

His Dad nodded and once Stiles climbed out, drove away. Stiles turned to the remaining people in the parking lot. Peter had driven the Camaro. "Peter, I need you and Lydia with me. Isaac, take the car and go to Walmart. I need you to get as much of this stuff as you can. He handed Isaac a list, and Peter handed him a credit card. "You have a half hour, get what you can, and get back here. We'll be in the chem lab." Peter held out the keys and Isaac took them automatically.

He stopped before he climbed in, and turned to Stiles. "We're going to get them back. I know we will." Stiles just nodded, appreciating the positive thinking. He marched up to the closest door, and Lydia and Peter followed. It was a testament to how pissed and freaked out that Lydia was, that she didn't seem to even register Peter's existence, let alone flinch from it.

Peter was about to speak up when Stiles pulled out a small key ring from his pocket. He grabbed the chain on the door and lifted the lock into position before shoving a key into it. When he noticed the looks he was getting, he spoke up. "After last time, I made a point of stea- er I mean of borrowing the master key and making a copy. I'm not getting cornered in this school again without a way to get out. Peter just arched an eyebrow and then followed when Stiles just turned and raced to the proper room. He started pulling flasks and chemicals out of the various cabinets, and Lydia just went to a station, already prepared to work.

When she got a glimpse of the things Stiles was setting out at various stations she looked confused. "Stiles, honey, those aren't the right ingredients for the Molotov." She said quietly.

"I know. Those are at station five, if you want to get started. These are a few other favors for the party we're gonna throw. Peter you're gonna want to be careful with this stuff. I mean some of these are gonna be standard pranking supplies on steroids, but quite a few of these are going to get additions from Deaton's supplies, and if I've got the mixtures right, they're gonna have a very adverse reaction to any wolf breathing them in. Don't worry though, you'll be protected before we actually use them

"Thank you for the warning Stiles. Just let me know where and how I can safely help. I know you have no reason to believe me, but he's the only family I have left. I want to keep him safe."

"We will." Stiles said, determinedly, before he started laying out specific chemicals and vials at each station. He dropped a different printed set of instructions at each stations before getting to work. By the time Isaac showed up with several clanking bags, he had several vials made at three of the stations. Lydia was almost done creating several sealed flasks, and he moved to take the bags from Isaac when he rushed in. Moving to a cleared table, he began organizing supplies and then Scott was there. Stiles let Isaac organize the stuff he'd bought, while he went to inspect Scott's haul.

"I left a note for Deaton. I tried to call him, but he wasn't answering. I don't want him pissed, but we need this stuff, right?"

Yeah, we do." Stiles said sorting and dropping supplies at various spots, before he began dividing a large bag of mountain ash into smaller baggies meant for sandwiches.

"The pack will make sure we compensate him for supplies." Peter said, giving the contents of Scott's bags a cautious look.

"Scott, can you help Isaac?" He moved over to some of the supplies Isaac had pulled from the bags. He pulled out scissors and began cutting lengths of Velcro and taping them onto a can. once he was done he demonstrated the newly created mechanism. You need to be able to pull this across the trigger, tightly, and keep it depressed." Both of them saw what he was going for and got to work, reproducing the rigged cans.

Peter had an eyebrow raised, but kept quiet. Lydia was done with the meager supplies for the cocktails so he pulled her over to a new station. He handed her a baggie full of powdered wolfsbane, and another printed instruction sheet. "Here, I need as many of these as you can make. While I'm at it, do you know if Danny or Jackson had their phones on them? And would you know their username and password?"

I'm not sure about Jackson, but I know Danny did. Unless one of them changed it, these are their logins. She quickly jotted them down before getting to work with the purple powder.

Stiles moved towards Peter, grabbing the bag he was holding out with the equipment he would need. He quickly began traces on the three phones. Jackson's phone was still in his car, but Danny's and Derek's were both in the heart of downtown. "Son of a Bitch." Stiles exclaimed, causing everyone to stop working. "They stole Derek's idea." He pulled up the map of the city and set it to the coordinates of the phones. "Look, they're in another one of the abandoned stations. They never put a mark near the station you guys were using. Instead they marked the house in the woods, so we'd assume they were out in the woods, but they've been in town the whole time. And really in that neighborhood no one would notice people coming and going, and even if they did, no one would be stupid enough to call the cops." Stiles pulled up a map and satellite pictures of the area studying the entrances and the set up. After a few minutes he realized something. "I'm going to have to go in first."

"You're what?" His dad said from the doorway.

"We need to know more, and we need someone who knows the assault is coming so they can keep our people safe. I'm the only Alpha left who can."

Lydia grabbed his shirt and pulled him to face her. "You are NOT the only Alpha left." she hissed.

"I meant I'm the only one who can fight for Derek's um... for Derek. You're bonded to Jackson already and IF they find that out they'll kill you instead of letting you fight them for Derek. They can't turn you and they may or may not know that. Me? I already have a partial claim on Derek and defeating me will make him easier to control and proves the worth of whoever beats me. Plus I pissed them off defeating a wolf " They're gonna want to get me in the fight for Derek. To show off and prove their superiority. I'm going to prove them wrong. It has to be me, and we all know it."

Lydia stepped back and nodded. No one else stepped up to argue, although it was clear that Scott and his dad both wanted to. Stiles looked down at the two bags his dad had carried in. The first bag was the one he'd put into the car when they'd left the house. "Dad, what's in there?" He asked, curious.

"Well, I did say Argent had a Hell of a sales pitch. Thanks for passing on his message this morning, by the way." He grinned at Stiles.

"That son of a bitch. That whole gas station creeper act was so I'd let you know your order was ready? Hasn't he ever heard of a damned phone?" Stiles grumbled.

"Oh, well yeah, he called too, but honestly I think he just likes messing with your head." His Dad said, amused despite the situation.

"I TOLD Derek Argent had creepy hobbies." Stiles grinned for a minute too, and then they both grew serious again, remembering what was coming. "I'm gonna assume guns and ammo?" He asked, nodding towards the duffel.

"Along with a few 'free samples'. I figured you might need them, but looking around, I'd be willing to bet you got whatever these things do covered."

Stiles quickly organized the toys, and then along with his Dad, prepped and loaded four of the guns. He handed two to a surprised Peter. "You know how to shoot, don't you?"

Peter nodded, putting on the holster the sheriff was passing him, before checking the guns and tucking them away. Once he was done he looked at Stiles and spoke again. "Why?"

"Because we need the fire power, and because you know what will happen if you turn on us." Peter nodded, and went back to organizing supplies, without further comment.

Once they prepared the supplies he began to organize his kit secreting various bits and bobs along different places on his body then he instructing them on the different items. "We are going for shock and awe here people. You see red eyes and it's not Derek, you put the fucker down hard. Our little tricks should be driving them mad by the time you go in. I want the wolves to use earplugs and everyone to use the gas masks. Scott you keep trying to get Deaton because if one of the wolves takes a dose of the wolfsbane we may need him. Also is your mom working?"

Scott nodded. "Good, if need be we go directly to her for help. She knows the story and can help us cover up anything particularly fast healing. I'm going ahead in the Camaro, you guys know the plan. Dad, make sure your gun has the special bullets. Something comes at you with teeth you put a wolfsbane bullet through their head."

His dad nodded solemnly. He checked his watch and his phone and prepared a text to send to their phones at the press of a button. "If I send this early, come in and knock the fuck out of them. If not, give me until midnight. That should give me time to find out where our people are." He hugged his dad and Kissed Lydia on the forehead. "I... We're gonna bring our boys home."

"You bet your ass we are." She replied.


	12. Chapter 12

Trigger warning for blood and body bits. Nothing too extreme, just possibly gross if that sort of thing bothers you.

* * *

The Trans, Beacon Hill's version of a subway system, wasn't much of a system as it was an only slightly crooked line from point A to point F. Six stops with a turn around after A and F. F also housed the maintenance bay and the 'train yard' where the cars might be pulled into for service if they had a mechanical error. Thanks to the geography of the town A, B, and C were above ground Their stations were barely more than glorified bus shelters on either side of the tracks. D and E along with most of F were underground. The whole system was a money losing set up from the start, back in the seventies. By the time the 1989 quake hit, the cost of keeping up the system, particularly the sections of the track that ran underground in a state known for its earthquakes, caused the company to go bankrupt.

The bulk of the properties held by the Trans company were eventually bought up over the years, and were torn down or re-purposed. D had been completely gutted and turned into a small gallery and a series of boutiques. F was near the forest and was built on land leased from the Hales, hence Derek using it as a safe house. E, however, was smack dab in the middle of what was now the industrial area of Beacon Hills. There were overpasses and half abandoned buildings and a few clubs. Jungle in fact, was about three blocks to the south of this particular station, but there wasn't much of anything active at least for the bulk of the day anywhere near the E station.

Stiles checked his gear, and then slipped on the leather jacket he'd found in the Camaro on over his red hoodie, before walking right up to the main entrance to the E Tran station. He couldn't see the guard but he knew there was one there. "My, my Grandma" he muttered. Suddenly there was someone behind him. He let the wolf put one clawed hand on his shoulder before he lashed out, slicing across ribs and bouncing off bone. The wolf pulled back, but Stiles had a hold of the hand that had been on his shoulder, and slammed it against the metal doorway, snapping the bones in the lower arm. Before he could cry out, Stiles punched the knife straight through the werewolf's throat, in and out with precision. That wound began smoking as well and when the wolf opened his mouth to howl, he gurgled and smoke slipped from his nose and mouth as if he'd just been puffing a cigarette, instead of dying.

He spun around to face the darkness in front of him, hands up in the air, knife folded away again. Whoever was in front of him wasn't letting their eyes show, but he knew they were there. So he spoke firmly. "I came to fight for my mate. I am an Alpha, a human one, but an Alpha none the less, and it is my right to prove my worth and to take what is mine, when I succeed."

The wolf that stepped out of the darkness was smirking at him. He spoke with what Stiles thought to be a slight Russian accent. "Hello there, little human Alpha. You are quite correct. You do have a right to fight for a mate, and based on what I've just seen, it will be an enjoyable fight to watch, until I slit your throat and bath in your blood. Still wish to try?"

"As a great philosopher of old once said, 'Do or do not, there is no try'."

The wolf smirked at him, humor dancing in his eyes along with madness as he led Stiles down the rabbit hole.

Since it wasn't the end hub, there weren't actually cars parked on the tracks, but it did have a surprisingly large amount of granite and chrome worked into the decor, and housed what had been the Trans offices. The offices and maintenance areas made for quite a bit of space that could be used by an incoming band of murderous psychotic werewolves. Lights had been strung haphazardly from various places, and there were a few barrels with wood fires going for light and a bit of warmth in the large open area. Signs with directions on which side to use to get to whichever destination you wanted, were hanging overhead creaking eerily. One had partially fallen, hanging by only a single chain it swung slowly one way and then another.

The wolf leading him into the station headed past several closed doors and straight to an already open one. The decor in here was vastly different from the hobo slash squatter chic that he'd passed thus far. That had actually looked very similar to how Derek had kept his station. This room though, was filled with rich colors and inviting furniture. The major off putting thing in the room was the fairly young woman, she couldn't have been over thirty, probably closer to twenty five. She was on the floor facing the wall wearing only a pair of threadbare sweat pants. She was looking down and didn't acknowledge Stiles in any way. Her head was tilted and her shoulder and neck were a mass of layered bruising and bites.

Stiles quickly pulled his eyes from her although his brain was on her at ALL times. The rage at her situation, imagining Derek or Jackson on their knees in the cold waiting their master's return like an obedient dog, had his cheeks flushing his mind focusing on destroying the person, no the people, who thought this was an acceptable way to treat their mate, or anyone at all really. He refused to look at her again, knowing that was a sign that he wanted to negotiate for her time, or challenge her mate. It wasn't time yet, but it was coming. The Alpha who'd led him here, walked back into the room.

He offered Stiles a drink, while making one for himself. Stiles politely declined, which drew a frown from the wolf. The look quickly disappeared, and the wolf smirked at him, before walking to settle opposite Stiles, and then speaking. "So what do you think of our den?"

"I think you've made yourselves quite a nice little home here, despite how short a time you're going to be staying." He refused to take the bait as the Wolf snapped his fingers, and the girl crawled to kneel beneath them, her head at the right level to be petted, dog-like.

"I'm sure at least one of our pack will be spending some time here, once one of us claims the Omega. We are all potential kings here, little human Alpha. We travel the world and when we find worthy prey, we fight and then one of us claims the prize. Some, like my little Muriel here become willing bodies, who come with us, while others have more to offer, such as territory. Of course once we take over a pack as their Alpha the packs are reorganized, often pruned back, cutting out all the dead weight, if you will. After all, what sort of pathetic pack lets an Omega get so far above their station? I'm guessing the same sort of pack that let humans in, Alpha or no. We were a little late getting to the other Omega, but his mate is just a normal human. Once we turn him, he will obey his Alpha, and through him we will gain access to everything he and his mate control."

Stiles didn't bother to mention that Danny would never ever do what they wanted, not if it meant going against what was best for Jackson. The Alphas not knowing might possibly mean the difference between life and death for Danny. After all, if they thought they could use him, they wouldn't rush to kill him.

Instead he found himself studying the wolf in front of him. He was at least 35, with dark hair that was pulled back in a pony tail. To be honest, he looked like some sort of Russian mafioso, or at least the pretty boy version of one Stiles would expect to see in a movie. He was sitting relaxed, but still ready to pounce if he needed to. Even if Stiles had a play here, he knew without a doubt none of his little tricks would work while this wolf was on alert. "So, tall wolfie Alpha, do you have an actual name? Because from what I understand, you all fall into that category. When I'm telling people later about the big bad Alpha wolf who's ass I kicked, I want to be able to tell the tale right."

"Gregory Vilkata, and might I have your name so that I'll be able to properly identify the bits stuck in my teeth once I've won the right to that stunning Omega?"

"Stiles." He replied, grinning at the threat, not willing to give any ground to anger.

The Alpha finished his drink and then stood, knocking the girl at his feet sideways as he moved, grumbling at her in another language before stepping away from the chair he'd been in, and gesturing for Stiles to follow him. "Come along, Stiles. I think it's time we checked on the status of my newest mate to be. We should make sure they are treating him as he deserves to be treated. After all he is the guest of honor tonight, now that he has entered his vaisingo state."

Stiles didn't understand the word, but he got the Alpha's meaning, like a punch to the stomach. Derek had hit his fertile state. For all intents and purposes, Derek was in heat, surrounded by a bunch of bastards who would soon be fighting for the chance to rape him. He reinforced his resolve and followed the Alpha. There were several wolves standing near a closed off area, and occasionally Stiles would catch the flash of red eyes, as one shifted, or got angry. He took in the lot of them, noting weaknesses as they moved closer.

Gregory stopped to speak with a pair of amber eyed wolves, who seemed to be in charge of the closed off area. One handed him a small box, which he took with a satisfied smirk. Stiles had a very bad feeling about what might be in that box. He slipped his hands into the pockets of the leather coat, clenching his fists, and concentrating on remaining calm. Gregory slipped it into his pocket and then turned, calling Stiles forward.

"Come little human Alpha, I thought you might like to comfort your packmate, before you become so much sinew and bone." He pushed through a door, and held it open for Stiles to follow.

"I'm already so much sinew and bone, oh and sass. I've been told I have that in abundance, but I'm always up for visiting with pack."

Stiles wouldn't be so cliche as to call Gregory's smile wolfish, but it was certainly predatory, an anticipation of coming pain and suffering, in someone else of course. Stiles could hear crying and he knew suddenly what he was walking into. Gregory was a fool. He hadn't quite realized that before now. He knew the man had been impressed by him, but still underestimated him because he was lesser, because he was human, but really, this was just stupidity.

Stepping ahead, Stiles dropped to his knees on the opposite side of Danny's body, from Jackson. "I would like to offer comfort, Gregory, perhaps you might let me have a few moments with them? If I have that much time, of course. I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to give you that enjoyable fight to watch."

Gregory smirked at him, and then handed him the box he'd been given on the way in. "Of course, Stiles, we have a few moments to spare, and while you're at it, here is something I wanted to make sure to return to you."

Stiles knew, he fucking _knew_ he didn't want to open that box, and so he clamped down on every emotion before he did. "I felt it was only right to make sure you had that little piece back. I wouldn't want to claim my new mate with your scent still on him, but I'm not a greedy man, by nature. I made sure the betas cut off a nice sized piece, just for you to remember him by. I would have done it myself, but you know how slowly an Alpha inflicted wound heals. I wouldn't want him injured before I get the chance to really enjoy it." Stiles closed the box, while Jackson, who'd been laying over Danny stared, stunned, and not quite understanding.

"Thank you, Gregory. This is quite a thoughtful gift. I'll be certain to put it to good use, and just as soon as I have a chance, I'll be sure to thank you properly." Stiles kept his voice pleasant on the verge of pleased, while he was screaming inside.

Gregory, on the other hand had stopped smiling, and eyed Stiles suspiciously, before stepping outside and shutting the door.

Stiles spun, dropping down next to Danny and held his hand out to Jackson, "Can you shift? I need a claw; all of my knives are treated and will fuck this up." Jackson stared at him, stunned and confused for a moment. "Jackson I need you to shift, NOW."

Jackson finally came out of his shock, momentarily and shifted. Stiles reached out a hand and took Jackson's. He sliced one of the sharp claws across the palm of his hand, drawing blood. That done, he forced himself to reopen the box Gregory had given him as a sick taunt. Inside was a small piece of what could only be bruised and bloody skin. He quickly gathered some of the blood, mixing it with his own, before he reached for the bite on Danny's side, that couldn't be more than a few minutes old. Stiles quickly coated the wound in the mixture of blood, gritting his teeth as he rubbed it into the torn up skin.

That done he grabbed Jackson's hand and his own and started rubbing it along Danny's neck, after barking "Claws in." to Jackson. He leaned down and started talking softly to Danny. "You're going to be fine, Danny. You're with Jackson, and you're pack and you are going to be just fine. You're going to run with us, once you heal, but you need to hold on. Hold on to Jackson, hold on to your mate and keep him safe. You need to fight Danny."

He quickly pulled out two sets of ear plugs and a small knife. "Jackson, you with me?" He asked, holding Jackson's arm until he got a definite nod. "You keep talking to him. Keep him focused on you, rub his neck, his hair, get your scent on him because odds are he's going to come back into this in the middle of a fight, he'll need the comfort and the encouragement, okay?"

"What's going on, I'm mated, why are they doing this?" Jackson was almost crying now, but hadn't stopped petting Danny.

"They're doing this because they're greedy assholes. They're going to try and control Danny as part of their pack, and use him to control you, which means they get what they wanted. But Danny is stronger than that, and now, now Danny's our wolf, not theirs. You start hearing loud noises and fighting, you get him somewhere safe, you find someplace and use the earplugs if the noise is too much. Try not to go out in the open, there will be a lot of noise and smells and it's hopefully going to be very overwhelming. Keep the knife closed, unless you have to use it. If you use it, strike hard and fast, just be careful the blade is coated in wolfsbane essential oil, it will burn you on contact."

He pulled back and Jackson made a grab for him, panicking. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go get Derek. The others will be coming in soon, be careful and try to stay out of the way until one of us comes for you." He petted Jackson's hand before standing up and walking to the door. "We're going to get you guys out, if it's the last thing I do. Just keep your head and stay safe."

He walked out the door and right into Gregory, who was coming the other direction. "Finished comforting your packmate?"

"He'll be fine. Both of them will be. I figured I should cut it short though, after all I wouldn't want to miss our dance."

"And I have no doubt we will dance, little Alpha." He said, glancing at Stiles, smugly. "Are you bleeding?" He asked, delicately sniffing in Stiles' direction.

"Jackson has never been a huge fan of mine, and he was freaking out over his mate. He's not always been the most careful of people. He grabbed me when I went to check on Danny. It's just a scratch, see." Stiles said, holding up his hand with the scratch. "It's not anything that will effect my footwork, Johnny, after all no one puts Baby in the corner, especially not the likes of Jackson."

"I do find you quite funny, Stiles. If you manage to survive our dance, perhaps there is room for someone like you with us, once you've been turned of course. Something tells me this fight is going to thin our ranks. After all, if you don't manage to kill a few of us, I'll be completely disappointed in you."

"Good to have that vote of confidence." Stiles says, forcing a flirty smile, when he really, really wants to stab Gregory's eyes out. He glimpsed at his watch and noted the time until reinforcements was rapidly shrinking. "So, how long until I get the chance to thin the ranks?" He asks, with forced eagerness, and completely unforced bloodlust.

"Now that we've cleaned your scent off of him, we'll Present off the Omega, and get things rolling. Why don't you join the others and get ready for that dance. I'll go start the music." He said gesturing towards the pack of wolves they'd passed earlier.

Several of the Alphas were staring at him, noses flaring. He ignored them, instead taking in the ones who didn't react. There were a set of twins, who didn't bother even looking in his direction. They were both fairly young, probably late teens. They were clearly having a private discussion, ignoring the fact that they were standing amid a mass of growling, posturing wolves. Apparently the wolf preference of leather was a species wide phenomenon, since just about every one in the group was wearing either leather pants or a jacket, and in one instance both. Then again, Stiles was wearing a borrowed leather coat, so he didn't exactly have room to complain.

Speaking of the jacket, he moved off to one side and removed it. He shook it out and folded it before he laid it down off to one side, where hopefully it would be left alone. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie and put hands on two sheaths, snapping them both open and ready. Before he could decide on pulling his knives or not, the Wolves around him all stopped and turned to stare in one direction. He forced the need to make a dog joke down viciously and turned to see what sort of fresh Hell this was.

Derek was being dragged through the doorway of the closed off area. He had a gag in, and was collared and shackled at both hands and feet. He was bare with the exception of a pair of flimsy white sleep pants. He was struggling to get loose, but clearly wasn't going to be able to. The Alphas, as if by rote lined up and strolled past the struggling Omega. Some leered, while others simply sniffed in his direction. After they had passed him, the Alpha would either walk back and wait, or leave. Stiles noted at least three Wolves walked away, including both of the twins.

Gregory was suddenly right behind Stiles. "My soon to be mate is making a fine Presentation. This would be a very interesting dance, even if you weren't here to make it so. Many of the toughest Alphas are proclaiming their interest. Some always decide not to fight, either because they know they cannot win, or because of some foolish notion of a destined mate. Be sure not to touch him, little human Alpha, it would violate the rules of Presentation."

Stiles nodded in acknowledgement before moving forward, for his own turn at inspecting Derek. He knew the moment Derek caught his scent. He stood rigid and looked around, panic becoming evident. Stiles moved so that he could be seen, instantly drawing Derek's eyes to him. He forced himself to remain calm, in order to keep Derek calm. He smiled reassuringly.

At exactly midnight, loud horns began to sound from around the station, layering quickly and coming from various points. Approximately ten seconds later, just as Gregory started barking out orders any wolf in the area, the leather jacket Stiles had removed exploded, filling the area with smoke and a strong acrid scent.

The moment the explosion went off, Gregory started shifting and growling, turning towards Stiles, who was standing ready for him, a knife in each hand.

"I believe this is our song." Gregory taunted.

"Then let's dance."

* * *

Notes: vaisingo means fruitful in Lithuanian (according to Google translations)  
Vilkata is Lithuanian for a were creature.  
Casting: Gregory - Goran Visnjic (He was in ER and Practical Magic)


	13. Chapter 13

Transformed, but not yet shifted to his Alpha form, Gregory moved in step with Stiles, their fight really did seem like a dance. Each one had drawn a bit of blood from the other, Stiles with his knives had managed two very shallow slightly smoking cuts; One across Gregory's side and the other across his arm. Stiles had shallow claw marks on his left arm, and a rip in his hoodie to match, which actually pissed him off more.

All around them there was a cacophony of multiple air horns echoing through the station. Smoke and various strong scents were driving wolves in different directions, madly and without caution. He hadn't seen any packmates yet, but they were obviously on the attack from more than one front. Layer after Layer of sound was coming from the dark of the Tran tunnels. If nothing had changed, Peter and his dad had slipped in that way, following the tracks.

A gunshot somewhere closer to the tracks distracted Stiles just long enough for Gregory to get a wide swipe in with his left hand, across his chest. The wolf looked victorious for all of two seconds, while Stiles reached up with his right hand and slammed one of his knives into Gregory's side, between his ribs. Stiles twists the knife and then left it in. He quickly jumped back from the howling and flailing wolf, jerking his claws out of the Kevlar body armor the wolf had become stuck on, as he did. His empty hand shot to a pocket, throwing down two or three small stoppered test tubes before grabbing a canister of the modified pepper spray. Before Stiles could trigger it, Gregory jumped backwards, shifting.

He howled as he shifted, the knife in his side moving in unnatural ways as he took on a more lupine form. Stiles knew the moment it would take to activate the spray was far too long. Instead of moving away or bringing the spray to bear, Stiles slammed forward, planting the other knife into the snarling snout of the Alpha. He let go of the blade and dived past the exceedingly pissed of werewolf, ending up behind him. The wolf stumbled around a little as it tried to paw the knife out, stepping on one of the test tubes, shattering it. The smell from the liquid in the tube drove the wolf even madder than it was before.

Stiles pulled out a sandwich baggy and started circling the wolf, brow furrowed in concentration. He had almost completed the circle when the wolf seemed to realize what he was doing. It slashed out again, this time against Stiles side, just as he completed the circle, trapping the wolf. Stiles was straddling the line, unfortunately with a set of claws digging into, and slowly through the vest he was wearing. He swung around, and finally let lose with the modified pepper spray, before quickly unzipping the hoodie and letting it fall away, just as he jerked loose. Gregory ended up trapped with two knives lodged in him, preventing any sort of transformation back to human.

There was a growl and a scuffle behind him. Stiles quickly turned, looking for Derek, only to see him struggling against the pair of beta's who were trying to drag him away. He was shifted, despite the chains and the gag, and was attempting to claw his way free.

Stiles slid his hands into his pockets, pulled out his last knife, and gripped the pepper spray before moving towards them. The Betas apparently knew when a cause was lost, or Stiles scared them. Either way they ran, leaving Derek tumbling back into Stiles' path. He quickly stabilized Derek, and then started pulling him towards the door that led to Jackson and Danny. It was difficult, to say the least, because sometime between the start of the fight and now, Derek had slipped entirely into himself. The wolf and its Omega instincts were in charge and he was clearly out of it.

"Derek, you need to come with me." Stiles ordered, grimacing over the whole situation. Derek was too out of it to actually let him free; at least until he could get where they were going, and focus on him. Derek zoned in on Stiles' voice and when he gripped Derek's arm and pulled, he obeyed, despite the fact that Stiles' touch was clearly burning him, as a result of handling the wolfsbane. Stiles moved his hand to the chains, instead, pulling him down the corridor. He jerked open the room where he'd left Jackson, and walked right into not one but two growling wolves. He stumbled back into Derek, and then stopped, pulling himself upright.

"It's me, shift back, NOW." Jackson did, slowly, before putting a hand on Danny's chest. "He needs to sniff me, Jackson, but he can't until I clean up. Keep him back while I wash the wolfsbane off my hands." He ordered, pocketing the knife and pepper spray before moving over to the water bottle sitting on the counter along with what looked to be Jackson's uneaten dinner. He shuffled through the various bits and bobs in his pockets, until he found a particular bag of powder. He scrubbed the powder into his hands and arms, rubbing it over every bit of skin before tapping it off and rinsing himself with the water, and drying them with the small stack of napkins on the tray.

Satisfied, he turned to face Danny and Derek, who were both wolfed out still. "Jackson, I need that claw again." He held out the hand he'd previously clawed open and let Jackson reopen the wound, just barely. Both Derek and Danny reacted, Danny almost immediately shifted back and was staring at him with huge eyes, while Derek began whining. Stiles jumped forward and started releasing the buckles on the gag, now that he could touch Derek without burning him. He pulled Derek's head down to his throat, where he'd been marked, and let the scent calm him down while he struggled to get the shackles off. It took a minute or two, because his damp and bloody fingers slipped on the bolt more than once, but finally he removed them, and threw the lot of it into one corner, before pulling Derek into a kiss.

He pulled back and looked at Jackson and Danny. "Are you two both okay to fight?" When they both nodded he continued. "Jackson I need that knife back. Here's the plan; I'll take point, I want one of you on either side of Derek. He's tripped over into his fertile state so he's going to be super susceptible to Alphas, and they're generally going to be drawn to him. Do not fucking let them near him. If it's not one of our people coming towards you, you gut them like a fish. Your priority is to get him the fuck out and keep him safe. You don't stop for me or anyone else." He stepped out of the room and then started moving towards the exit and the sounds of fighting. "The air horns seem to be dying out." He commented, before turning to look for Gregory.

He had managed to pull the knife out of his snout and shifted, red eyes still present and glaring at Stiles, promising death, before shifting back to amused. "You are a very good dancer, little human Alpha. You taught me more than one new step tonight, but that one is still mine," He said, pointing to Danny. "and the next time we dance? I'll be sure to take the lead."

"Danny," Stiles asked, eyes on Gregory. "Who's your Alpha?"

Danny shifted, eyes a deep burnished gold, verging on copper. "You are."

Furious, Gregory roared, calling to Danny's wolf, but got no response.

"I'd leave you with that little present you gave me, but I am the greedy type." He said before pulling out a red labeled test tube, and shaking it up. "And honestly, a little vindictive." He said before throwing the tube and letting it shatter right in front of Gregory. "Move it. I don't want anyone breathing that in." He said pushing the others forward.

Gregory was slamming into the barrier of mountain ash that was holding him in with the fumes and the splash of burning liquid, that was eating into his skin. Stiles turned and left, following his pack. Stiles shivered from nerves. "Come on, we need to get the Hell out, now." He said urgently, moving towards the stairs and the remains of a broken escalator. He slipped his hands in his pocket and pulled out a silver tube. He pulled it to his lips and gave a long and to him, silent, blow. All three wolves growled at the noise of the dog whistle, but he just pushed them ahead of him, and turned to back up the steps, watching for the others.

FL*FL*FL

Peter Hale felt alive again for the first time in seven years, if not longer. The fact that he was also probably about to die, again, was ironic to be sure, but didn't even come close to dampening the euphoria of it. Of actually living, of feeling real for the first time in so long. He was fighting with teeth and claws and yes even a gun. He had killed so many after he woke up from the coma, and he still felt they deserved their deaths, but they didn't matter like these deaths mattered. They had been vengeance, which is bitter by nature. This, this was fighting for one's pack, for one's family. This was putting your life out there at risk for pack, and knowing the rest of your pack was doing the same thing for you.

If you had told Peter even a week ago that he would be fighting for pack, any pack, let alone the rag tag team of pathetic teenagers Derek had chosen, he would have laughed in your face before slitting your throat open for the sheer insolence. But then he'd been approached by Derek to do something that should have been done a very long time ago, by Peter's brother. Derek had finally acknowledged the fact that the Alpha pack was something he needed to deal with. Of course the big stupid martyr wanted to abdicate his throne instead of fight for it, but at least he realized something needed to be done.

Peter had began to evaluate possible mates for Derek. Unfortunately, they were fairly skint when it came to natural Alphas. A pack full of Betas wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't what was needed. Any beta could be controlled by a strong enough Alpha, ruining the whole point of taking a mate. What they needed was a handy trustworthy Alpha who wouldn't destroy their pack and take over their land. What they had were children or the deviants of the Alpha pack.

Peter was beginning to despair ever finding someone, when he saw Derek and Stiles arguing over what to do about Gerard. He had slunk off, ostensibly to die, but Peter didn't believe they were quite that lucky. Neither did Stiles. Derek was, understandably, distracted with the Alpha pack, but Stiles had been furious over the fact that the lot of them had let Gerard escape.

Peter had taken a look at the rage in Stiles, and at the injuries, both visible and hidden, and then sniffed. That alone told him something was off. Stiles didn't even smell of the blood Peter could _see_ on him. Instead there was an oddly mild herbal scent in the air that he had only noticed upon sneaking up behind Stiles and sniffing like some sort of bloodhound searching for a scent. If he didn't have his wolf reflexes that little trick would have gotten him slapped. As it was, he'd been scowled at by a seriously freaked out Stiles. Instead of commenting on the obvious use of some sort of trickery, Peter joined in the discussion, agreeing with Stiles that they needed to be sure about Gerard's fate. Stiles looked almost, but not quite, ready to begin arguing the other side of the debate, just because Peter was agreeing with him, but managed to refrain.

Despite their best efforts, they hadn't been able to track down Gerard. That being said, the whole thing wasn't a total bust, because Peter had been able to watch Derek and Stiles interact. Clearly the boy was a human Alpha, and wasn't that a shock to the system, but despite that, his interactions with Derek were those of an equal. He was willing to listen to Derek, and take orders, when he agreed with them, but also to argue and come up with his own demands, without simply overriding Derek. They complimented each other. Better yet, from Peter's point of view anyway, Stiles had already let Peter control him, back before his death. Stiles was pliable, useful, and even a blind fool could see the two of them were attracted to one another. Which naturally meant neither had a bloody clue.

He'd brought it up to Derek, since he had asked Peter to help him with finding a solution, but was resoundingly shut down when Stiles' name was mentioned. The thing was, none of Derek's arguments had anything to do with disliking, or not wanting Stiles. Instead it was all said with this undertone of guilt and want and general misery. Some utter tripe about how young Stiles was, and how it wasn't fair to tie him to Derek like that. God save him from the utter martyr complex Derek had going, because he was seriously contemplating just smacking the sense back into him.

Instead of trying to convince Derek when he knew he'd already began to dig in his heels, he decided to bring the matter to Stiles' attention. He was practical, and once he got past the hysteria that Peter fully expected, he would see what their best, Hell, what they're ONLY option was. The encounter had been interesting from the start. Instead of just answering the door, like Peter fully expected, Stiles had discretely checked to see who was there, and then had backed away from the door, instead of opening it. He had also began typing into his phone almost immediately, which said he was calling in reinforcements. Unfortunately for Stiles, both Isaac and Scott had been unavailable. Derek at least had his phone, but he was two towns away, which was why Peter picked that day to explain things to Stiles.

Stiles had naturally listened to reason, allowing Peter into his house, just like Peter had expected, but his whole demeanor had thrown Peter for a loop. Calmly offering him a drink? Not exactly what Peter had been expecting, unless it was laced with wolfsbane or possibly ex-lax, knowing the boy's sense of humor. Instead Stiles had simply gotten him a glass of water, and then when he'd taken it, relaxed completely; almost as if Peter's acceptance of the water meant something to him. That had nudged _something_ in his head, but for the life of him he hadn't place it, not yet anyway. That measure of the unknown had thrown him, just a bit.

That hint of something being off was just the starts of it. Stiles seemed almost hungry for information about the wolves. He'd eaten it up; completely fascinated with the lore. Of course he was still a bit naive at how things would work, but the sheer anger he had put out at the thought of the Alpha pack using Derek was palpable. He was almost positive that Stiles would agree, and then Stiles had basically told him it was no longer his business. Right.

Derek had of course taken offense and slammed him into a wall or three, before taking off to ensure that Stiles hadn't been unduly influenced by mean old Uncle Peter. Peter had almost gone to listen to that little meeting, but knew Derek would expect him to try something like that. Instead he made sure to be around when Derek came home, in the weirdest mood ever. He seemed strangely calm, almost peaceful. It had really started to freak Peter out, because even as a child, Derek had never been calm or peaceful. He just never seemed to have that in him. Naturally Peter was so concerned he had to pry and poke at whatever was causing this bizarre change. Upon finding out his nephew had a _date_ of all things he couldn't possibly resist a few teasing remarks; and there he went again with the wall slamming. Never let it be said that Derek couldn't be consistent.

Of course the consistent wall slamming was completely worth it, since he got to watch Derek run out of the apartment like all the hounds of Hell were after him when Peter started talking about properly vetting his new suitor and chaperones and curfews. You'd think the boy was still twelve or something. When Derek hadn't come home that night, Peter had held great hope that he might return properly and safely mated. He was almost feeling smug on the whole matter, which was obviously when Isaac called begging for help. Apparently a few of the Alpha wolves was attacking Jackson, Scott and Isaac, and they were in serious need of help.

The four of them had managed to run off two of the three attacking Alphas, and between Peter and Isaac, they'd captured the third. Scott and his boyscout ways kept them from doing too much actual damage to the wolf, despite the fact that he'd specifically come to steal away one of their group, something Scott didn't seem able to comprehend. Isaac added a lovely touch of manic to the mix however, and between the two of them, they'd gotten quite a bit of information before the Alpha was send running, metaphoric tail between his legs. It would seem they had another problem on their hands. He had Scott and Isaac make sure Jackson got home safely, and then returned to the apartment to contemplated the news about Stiles and Derek.

According to the wolf he'd questioned, Stiles had taken down, and dominated an Alpha. He had even managed to permanently, or as near as to be considered such, marked the Alpha. The fact that it had been a human, Alpha or no, had seriously pissed the Alpha pack off. It had also apparently altered their plans. Since Derek was probably now useless to them, they decided they needed to take Jackson, who had been an Omega human; and didn't that just explain his extreme overcompensation tendencies? Even if they turned Stiles, at this point Peter was fairly sure he'd be a leader Alpha as well as a sexual one. That wouldn't help them in any way, and honestly if Derek had willingly bonded with Stiles there was no way the death of his mate would result in anything less than complete insanity and death at the worst.

Peter had been pleased about the fact that a mating seemed to be in the works, but he had become uncomfortably aware that Stiles wasn't going to be quite the pushover Peter had been hoping for, when it came to Peter's role in the pack. He had wrongfully assumed that with Stiles as the "Alpha" he'd actually be in charge by way of manipulating Stiles where he wanted him to go. Clearly that wasn't going to happen now. He'd also figured out what the strangeness had been over his visit to Stiles' home. He'd inadvertently accepted hospitality. Stiles had offered him the sanctuary of his home, ensuring Peter would suffer for any attempt at hostility while there, and had started what might possibly lead to Peter earning some sort of belonging, when it came to Stiles and the pack. Perhaps even the easy acceptance he'd lost with the fire so long ago.

The next day he'd found out they hadn't mated after all, but while he was disappointed, he could tell there was something important happening. Beyond the need to mate, Stiles had a need to protect Derek, and if he was doing it by showing Derek how he respected him, as opposed to jumping to use him? Well as Derek's sole remaining family, he couldn't find fault with that really. He'd taken a chance and offered Stiles hospitality, some part of him expected a refusal, but Stiles had not only accepted, he had specifically given a verbal agreement to Hospitality. Peter wasn't entirely sure of the repercussions, but he knew that acceptance was important.

Of course, then Stiles had showed off how truly competent he was, how different from the Alpha pack. He had the opportunity to absolutely ruin Jackson; a young man Peter was _certain_ Stiles disliked, with reason he was sure. Instead he refused to take the bond with him, and came up with the perfect solution. Then when Jackson had insulted Stiles, and inadvertently insulted Derek, Stiles had put on that lovely display of dominance for everyone, without ruining Jackson's chances with Lydia. Peter wasn't ashamed to say he'd been adjusting himself after that little display. Stiles had walked away from the chance to make Jackson his slave, and instead proclaimed Derek his equal. If Peter hadn't been there smelling the truth practically pouring out of Stiles, he'd have assume it was some sort of bullshit.

Peter was halfway convinced the boy couldn't possibly be any more perfect, and then he'd listened in on Stiles' apologizing for the display, as if he was afraid he'd somehow offended Derek. Which naturally meant Derek tried to be a bloody fool and a martyr offering to 'let Stiles go' for his own good. Thank God one of them had their heads on straight, because Stiles had nipped that little moment of stupidity in the bud, and then proceeded to initiate what smelled like some very hot sex. Creeper reputation or not, Peter had practically fled from that little display.

He'd been in the middle of trying to reread all the family history about damaged mates, hoping to find something that might offer insight into Lydia and Jackson's situation, when Stiles' call came in about Derek and the Alphas. Just like that, Peter knew their pack was going to war, and that Stiles was going to lead them. Over and over tonight, Stiles had pulled something out of his bag that would push things further in their favor; Little ideas and plans that would protect them, or hurt the Alphas. Despite how much he had wished the year before that he'd turned Stiles instead of Scott, he knew, really and truly _knew_ that would have ended with him dead much sooner. The moment he gave Stiles a real reason to stop him, Stiles had. Now, looking at the things he'd figured out or came up with, Peter knew without a doubt he'd never EVER try to go against Stiles and his pack. More than that, for the first time in a very, very long time, this was a pack he'd die to protect, if it came to that.

Now, here they were, him and a very human Sheriff Stilinski creeping down the rails from the old F station to try and get a bit of an edge in this battle. Both of them had guns, and naturally Peter had his claws and teeth, but more than that, they had a bag full of toys that Stiles had instructed them on. Stiles dad had a bandoleer filled with vials instead of bullets; each one specifically labeled, and each one incredibly useful in a battle like this.

As they approached the end of the tunnel, or at least the last of it before their target, the Sheriff held out a baggie, and Peter nodded, moving a few feet further in as the sheriff began laying down a squashed oval that ran from one side of the tunnel to the other, completing the circle before waving Peter over to test it. The 'circle' of mountain ash now blocked this tunnel from werewolves, cutting off any retreat for the Alphas. Yet another brilliant maneuver on Stiles' part. Only their group knew the safe exits, the rest blocked off by more of the mountain ash.

Peter took out the ear plugs he'd been presented with earlier in the evening, and then watched as Stiles' dad proceeded to set out several cans inside the now protected circle. Once Peter put the plugs in, which were apparently considered industrial strength, he watched as the Sheriff popped his own in and pulled out his watch to keep track of the time. At exactly midnight he began to deploy the canisters. Despite the plugs he could tell the noise from all of the air horns Stiles had modified, would be unbearable, especially echoing like they would down this tunnel. What seemed like seconds later, there was the shake of an explosion, which they both knew was Stiles' signal for come play.

Guns out and ready they stalked ahead. Peter was the first to pull the trigger, dropping an advancing Alpha the moment it turned towards him, it was merely eyes in the dark. The Sheriff put two more rounds in another set of eyes before catching Peter's attention and slipping on the gas mask he carried. Peter followed suit, and soon they were both throwing out tear gas canisters, flash-bangs and a few of Stiles' homemade wolfsbane grenades. They also took the opportunity to deploy another wave of air horns, since they only last a minute or so with the Velcro holding them on.

That done they pushed forward into the actual station, and up the stairs along one side of the platform. Between them, they put down, either temporarily or permanently at least eleven wolves, six of them Alphas. After tapping him in warning, the sheriff threw out another set of flash-bangs and tear gas canisters, followed by the second to last wolfsbane grenade. They watched, Peter with utter satisfaction, as at least five wolves in the area dropped, coughing and gasping. Their breathing become more of an issue than fighting the intruders.

Isaac and Scott came out of the smoke to their left, and caught their attention, indicating that that they should remove the ear plugs. They both did quickly, and moved further into the station. Peter noted more than a few wolves doing the smart thing and retreating. There was only one entrance that hadn't been blocked off though, so hopefully the running wolves would guess wrong and trap themselves, instead of being able to rally outside as some sort of last ditch revenge.

The dog whistle, and Peter dearly wanted to smack Stiles upside the head for that, sounded the retreat, and they had just turned to leave when a set of howls pulled the wolves up short. Scott looked confused, but Peter and Isaac both knew what that was.

"Boyd and Erica" Isaac said from behind his gas mask.

FL*FL*FL

Derek and Stiles both pulled up short at the echoing howls. Derek started to push back down the stairs and Stiles stood, blocking him, one hand on his chest. "I'll get them, you need to go." He pushed Derek further up the stairs before turning to look at Danny and Jackson. "Take the north exit, it should be unblocked. Lydia will be waiting just down the road. Get Derek back to his place, and don't let anyone except the pack in."

He put a hand on Derek's cheek, and looked into his eyes. "I'll bring them back, one way or another, but you need to go, NOW."

He pulled Derek into a kiss before pushing the three of them toward the exit and turned, running back down the steps and into the station.


	14. Chapter 14

Notes: Obviously some violence this chapter, as well as non-graphic aftermath of an attempted rape.

Stiles rushed back down the stairs and into the station. As he went, he blew two silent blasts on the dog whistle, hopefully giving his wolves an idea that he was coming and where to find him. If they were going to retrieve the betas, they needed to coordinate their efforts. He knew Isaac at least, would be chomping at the bit to get them. Scott would be in because it was the right thing to do, but he didn't count on Scott even realizing the situation without one of the others explaining. His dad would follow even if he begged him not to, and surprisingly enough, he really believed Peter would help, even if some part of his agreeing was merely to find out what they'd told the Alphas.

The thing was, Stiles couldn't blame them if they talked. He somehow doubted the Alphas just took anything they said at face value, and those howls sounded like they were in pain. They were loud enough, but quality wise barely better than Scott's first pathetic baby Simba roar.

Stiles tried to remember what he'd seen of the stations layout as he rushed into the still smoke filled platform area. He knew the platform on the other side of the tracks had a door leading to maintenance tunnels, and at least one area with with access to the pipes and probably the electric as well. He oriented himself toward that direction, he was almost positive they were there. He moved toward the stairway down to the tracks, and then up to the other side when he realized someone was moving in front of him. He was just about to slip off to one side, when his dad said his name.

"Yeah, it's me." He called, moving towards them quickly, eyes checking them all over as soon as they came into sight. "I got the others, Danny's been turned, but he's ours now, not theirs. I sent them to Lydia when we heard the others call."

"Good idea, Stiles." Peter said. "Those three have been through a lot and Danny isn't going to have very much control, especially in all this."

"Derek's hit his fertile state." Stiles said, grinding his teeth in frustration.

Peter's eyes widened in shock. "None of the Alphas..."

"No." Stiles said quickly, reassuring Peter. "They had some sort of bullshit 'Presentation' with him in chains and half naked, and that bastard Gregory had one of their betas slice off a chunk of his skin where I had scent marked him, thank God he's already healed from that, but otherwise, he's in good shape." He looked around, there were more than a few wolf corpses laying around the platform, but he didn't see anyone still moving.

"Anyone we missed, who isn't trying to get out of here, will head towards those howls." Peter advised.

"Which is why we're going in hard." Stiles decided, while checking over Isaac and Scott. "Alright how's everyone on supplies?" He asked, already shuffling through the pockets he had left.

Both the young betas pulled off their masks and stuffed them in pockets before pulling out test tubes. Stiles turned to his dad and Peter who each had two left. His dad had three tear gas canisters and both he and Peter had plenty of the Argent's bullets left. Stiles pulled the knife his dad wasn't using, replacing what he'd lost.

"Keep the tubes handy, but don't use them if you don't have to. Boyd, Erica and me don't have masks. You two," He pointed towards Isaac and Scott. "use claws and fangs, as much as you can." He pulled out one of the test tubes, labeled in green this time, and reached out for Isaac's hand. "Shift for me."

Isaac looked at him strangely and then did; Claws popping out. Stiles began applying the liquid from the tube to them. He moved onto Isaac's other hand and then grabbed Scott's. He repeated the procedure for both Scott and finally turned to Peter.

"Can you shoot while shifted?" When Peter nodded he took his hand and after Peter shifted, he treated his claws too. "You'll all need to be careful of friendly fire with these. In theory wounds with traces of this in them wont heal until they've been cleansed of the potion. Lydia has the jar of cleaner that will remove it from your hands, um if I'm not there tell her it's the green lidded jar."

"You'll be there." Peter said, gripping the gun again. The sheriff just nodded, putting a hand on Stiles' shoulder.

"Sure." Stiles said with a smirk, shaking off the bad thoughts.

They moved to the other platform and closed in on the door. Stiles jerked it open and Peter took point, gun out and ready. There was a long hallway, with doors at intervals on either side. They moved forward, with Scott checking doors on the left side and Isaac on the right. Most doors were locked with a few opening up to reveal makeshift sleeping quarters. There was only one door left, when they heard a muffled cry. They all pushed forward and Isaac slammed it open, Peter pushing in right behind him, followed by Stiles. Scott and the sheriff were guarding the exit, backs to the wall.

Stiles took one look at the contents of the room and had his gun up and taking aim. He gave no warning and instead, shot the two betas who had ran from him earlier, in the head, Peter quickly following suit. A quick look around showed another door, this one with a snarling and growling wolf behind it. Erica was chained to a pipe, and had been knocked unconscious. She was partially undressed, and the intent of the two half undressed betas had been obvious. Stiles put two more bullets in them for good measure.

Isaac was at the door, moving to open it before anyone could stop him. Stiles who had just moved to check on Erica looked up as Peter called out. "Wait." It was too late and Isaac had already released the latch. A snarling wolf shoved his way out, knocking Isaac backwards, and ran towards Erica and Stiles.

Stiles dove back, screaming to Peter at the same time. "Don't shoot!"

Boyd slid down beside Erica, and tried pulling at the chains, growling still. Isaac approached from one side, sinking to the floor and coming forward, trying to move between Stiles and Boyd. Stiles was digging through the dead betas' pockets looking for the key to the chains.

When he found them, he rattled them, to get Boyd's attention, before throwing them to him. "Get her unchained, and lets get the Hell out of here." He said, moving back towards the door.

Boyd quickly unlocked the chains holding her then picked her up and followed them out of the room. Stiles gestured forward and they all took off down the hall. Scott and the sheriff were still guarding their exit, both alert and wary.

Stiles slid up to them. "Hearing anything ahead, Scott?"

"I'm pretty sure there are at least three or four wolves out on the platform waiting for us. More if they're further back."

"We can make them come to us..." Stiles trailed off wincing. He stopped speaking and pulled out his phone, typing quickly before showing them. 'No talking they'll hear.' He started typing out a quick plan. 'Shooters first followed by me, Isaac and Scott. Protect E and B. Quick kill and disable, push past get to right door. I'll throw tubes once we're clear. Stay together!'

His dad and Peter went out first as planned, each taking down a wolf before Stiles could clear the door. There were nine wolves on the platform, and then the set of twins Stiles had noticed earlier slunk off after catching sight of Stiles. That left them facing seven, and then five with another round of shots. Stiles dashed to the left and sliced across the ribs of a growling beta before stabbing the other knife into his side. Stiles released the blade and followed it with a kick to the side of his knee knocking him down. Two more shots had them down to two, a muscular beta, and one of the Alphas who had planned on fighting for Derek.

Peter was grappling with the beta, far too close for the Sheriff to be able to take a shot. Isaac and Scott were double teaming the Alpha. Both did damage with their claws, but against an Alpha they were both sent flying; one after the other. Stiles slide in behind the Alpha as he turned to take Isaac's attack, stabbing his remaining knife into his lower back before removing a cork from one of the test tubes and splattering him with it. The Alpha dropped to the ground, shifting part way, howling as his skin began to smoke. Claws were gouging into skin and all three teens stepped back, ignoring the fight behind them to in shock as the wolf was lost to madness and pain. Peter pushed the Beta, before diving out of the way, allowing the sheriff a clear shot. He took it, and then put another two rounds in the writhing Alpha. The Beta Stiles had knifed was crawling away. Peter put another two bullets in him before they all started moving toward the exit again.

Everyone remained on guard as they left, eyes constantly watching for any danger. Despite his fears, they made it out, quickly splitting up between his dad car and the Camaro. His dad took Peter, Boyd and Erica, while Scott and Isaac rode with him. They rushed back to Derek's apartment, a strange mix of exhausted and elated. They parked in the garage, Stiles poking the button on the remote in the Camaro to let them in. It wasn't until the elevator opened onto Derek's floor that all the wolves began growling.

Stiles took one look at the lot of them, and he knew. He pulled the last test tube from his pocket and poured the contents over his hand before he rushed down the hall, slamming his way into the apartment. Lydia was crumpled on the floor along one wall, Jackson and Danny both standing, shifted in front of her. Derek was being held across the room. He was spasticly shifting from wolf to human and back, eyes glowing red and then blue as his body and mind fought the monstrosity in front of him.

Gregory, scarred and bloody, reached out a clawed hand and grabbed Derek at the neck. He shook Derek roughly before spinning him around and slamming him into the wall, cracking the plaster. Gregory held him there, feet several inches off the floor and turned to face Stiles, smirking. "I did promise to take the lead."

"Yes, but your moves are a bit rusty tonight, Gregory. Perhaps we should wait for another song." Stiles said as he stepped closer, eyes never leaving his opponent.

"Yes, little one, it has been a very long night, but I think I like this song. It's very sweet." He slid forward and licked along the side of Derek's neck. Derek was pulling away, which seemed to infuriate Gregory.

"You have a habit of laying claim to things that aren't yours, Gregory. You stripped my scent off of him, but he still knows who he belongs to."

Gregory slammed Derek into the wall again and shoved him to one side, turning to face Stiles head on. He belongs to no one, yet, little Alpha, and if you are dead, you'll no longer be around to distract him from someone far more worthy."

"If there was a more worthy mate, I'm sure he'd notice, but since you're the only other Alpha around, now, well what does that say, hmm?" Stiles said, smirking at Gregory, infuriating him more and more every second. "Besides, I've seen how you treat a mate, Gregory. I would kill myself before forcing my mate to live like that. Oh look, yet another strike against your so called worth."

Gregory rushed him then, anger overwhelming his control. Gregory's claws dug a gruesome wound along one shoulder, but before he could pull back, Stiles grabbed ahold of his arm, just above the wrist. Before Gregory could begin to register the pain as Stiles' wolfsbane coated fingers dug into his arm, Stiles pulled his other hand up to grab Gregory's throat. He dug his nails into the smoking skin, squeezing with all his might. Gregory bellowed in pain and tried to pull away, lashing out with his free hand. As his claws dug into Stiles' arm, Stiles jammed his thumb nail into Gregory's throat.

Gregory's skin was blistering and turning black under the oil; the burning making the skin easier to damage, and the damage allowing the oil to burn more. A vicious catch-22 that Stiles was using to the best of his abilities. He hissed as Gregory's claws scrambled to do damage, to claw Stiles' away from his wrist and his throat, but Stiles ignored the pain and dug in harder. Gregory was trying to shift under his hands, going mad with pain and rage, but Stiles held on, riding it out with gritted teeth, his own rage and fear forcing him on.

He could hear people behind him, trying to help; scrambling to find some way, but the two Alphas were tightly entangled, claws and nails, teeth both showing, as lips pulled back into nearly identical snarls. The lock of arms between them was the only reason they weren't ripping each other's throats out. Gregory was scrambling to do enough damage to push Stiles back, but every slice seemed to solidify his resolve.

Stiles used his last weapon, before the pain could become too much, his mouth. "The fact that you think Derek is a thing to be claimed is the reason you're never, ever going to claim him. You erased my scent, cut it out, and he still belongs to me. Don't you want to know why?" Stiles tilted his head, not in submission, but in pride, showing off the pinpricks along his shoulder and neck. "He belongs to me, because I belong to him. I will become his Alpha, but he's already mine."

Gregory's eyes shifted red and he pushed forward then, finally knocking Stiles loose, and shoving him backwards. Stiles stumbled back, knowing Gregory was going to slice his stomach out. He could see it in every line of his body, just like he knew he didn't have anything left to defend himself. As he pulled back to swing, a hand grabbed onto his wrist, shocking both Stiles and Gregory.

Derek had him, half wolfed out, and punched out, hitting Gregory straight in the face. He managed two more punches before Gregory shook him off and then threw him across the room. He turned to find Stiles one final time, to finish off the human who'd decimated his pack, only to be looking down the barrel of a gun.

In the moments Derek had distracted Gregory, Stiles had pulled the gun from his father's hand, and when Gregory turned back around, Stiles only hesitated a beat before pulling the trigger.


	15. Chapter 15

The bullet blew through Gregory's head and dropped him to the floor dead, immediately. Stiles had to force himself to not rush and check on Derek. Instead he spun quickly and slammed into the kitchen. In between fighting down bouts of nausea and vomiting, he began scrubbing the oil and blood from his hands. He ignored the bloody wounds and concentrated on getting rid of what was keeping him from his mate. Everything else could wait. He stripped what was left of his clothes off, except his boxers, and then scrubbed down both hands and arms, lathering up with Dawn dish soap, in hopes of cutting through the wolfsbane.

Finally satisfied he wouldn't hurt Derek more, Stiles slipped back into the living room. Lydia was sitting up, looking furiously at Gregory's corpse, one hand holding onto her head, where a bump was forming. There was blood spray on the wall, and seeing it nearly made Stiles throw up, before he clamped down on his feelings again.

"Peter, what's the neighbor situation? Is someone going to call complaining about the shooting?" Stiles asked, moving towards Derek.

"I haven't heard any unusual activity, and we don't really have that many neighbors right now. The couple across the hall both work nights."

Stiles nodded and moved towards where both Isaac and his dad were, next to Derek. He had smashed through a table and into the wall when Gregory had thrown him. Coupled with the previous damage, Derek was still healing. Stiles slid down next to him and pulled him gently out of the wreckage around him. He started going over Derek's body, checking him out carefully. There was once again blood in his hair from where he'd been slammed into the wall by Gregory, along with a few other scrapes and bruises that were already healing. There was also a chunk of wood along one side of his abdomen that came from the table he'd slammed into. The sheriff had been concerned about that, and winced when Stiles quickly jerked it out, allowing werewolf healing to take care of the rest. Once the wound closed up, Stiles helped Derek to his feet, and pulled him into a hug.

Derek's nose flared and he growled a little at the claw marks down Stiles' arm and side. "Shhh, it's okay. Look, they're not healing, and once things are cleaned up, I'll get them all washed out." He ran a hand along Derek's hair and shoulders calming him before turning to the rest of the pack. "Lydia, you okay?"

"Just a bump on the head. Nothing a Tylenol and maybe a werewolf fur coat wouldn't fix, anyone know how to make this asshole shift so I can have someone skin him?"

"As you know, my dear, certain types of wolfsbane have different effects, there is one we use for burial that does revert the corpse to a wolf. I'm afraid unless you lined the coat with it, however, it wouldn't stay shifted." Peter answered, eyes avoiding Derek, Stiles and Scott, who all winced.

Lydia gave Peter a look that was frankly scary. "I'll keep that tip in mind. I'm sure Stiles can provide me with something suitable, should the need actually arise." The look she was giving him said she was sizing him up Cruella De Ville style, before continuing. "However, a dead wolf would be a better alternative to a dead human, at the moment, right?"

Stiles' Dad looked up for the first time, as if realizing this may actually become his problem. "The bodies at the station..." He said, eyes on the body in the room.

Peter shifted away from Lydia and turned to the Sheriff. "I'm fairly sure the supplies from Deaton had the appropriate wolfsbane in it. That would help us deal with this." He pointed towards the corpse. "I think we'll need to go back to the station, and deal with the remains there as well. Plus there are several Betas who won't shift into wolf form, despite the wolfsbane. At least three of the kills will need to be disposed of in a more appropriate manner."

"My knives need removed." Stiles said from the other side of the room where he was holding Derek. "We are all tired and miserable, but without Gregory there to call the shots, I don't know how much the survivors will cover up. Plus, Gregory had a mate. He was abusing her and using her, so I don't know how tight the bond was. We need to check on her, and there are at least two Alphas left; Those twins who left the fight. Plus, I don't remember seeing the one I marked."

Peter moved towards the bag Lydia had brought inside before being knocked out by Gregory. He pulled out a green lidded jar, and first cleaned his claws before passing it on to Scott and Isaac. He then pulled out a jar of pale purple powder and passed it to the Sheriff. "Just a sprinkle should do it; Too much will cause the rest of us to turn as well, before causing us other problems."

He gently shook some of the powder over the corpse, jumping back as it began shifting suddenly. He didn't take his eyes off the now lupine body as he spoke. "We need something to wrap him in, so we can get him out of here, and someone needs to clean this whole area with bleach. He may be a wolf now, but I'd be willing to bet that blood on the wall still shows up as human. Scott, you and Isaac start looking for supplies. We need garbage bags, bleach, some rags and if anyone has any ideas on where to take the wolves once we get them all..."

Scott spoke up then. "Dr. Deaton's. We can take them there, and have them cremated. Obviously only the Alphas, but it would keep them from doing anything like..." Scott stopped and completely avoided looking at Peter.

Stiles threw something out, despite the nasty taste it left in his mouth. "What about Chris Argent? We clean your prints off the guns, get my knives and check on, Muriel, that was Gregory's mate. We tell the other wolves to get the Hell out of town, and then see if Chris has any ideas on how to cover it up. They must have some kind of system, they've been doing it for years. Just take Gregory back there, and let Chris sort it out. The Argents owe this pack... owe us."

Peter shared Stiles' obvious distaste for the idea of letting the Argent's clean it up, but they also knew it was probably for the best.

The first order of business was getting the injured wolves taken care of. Stiles got Derek cleaned up and into his own bed, while Isaac and Scott helped get Boyd and Erica settled in Isaac's bed. Once the three of them were someplace safe, they concentrated on clean up.

They wrapped up the wolf corpse, and between Scott, Jackson, and Isaac they managed to get it into the sheriff's car. Once that was done, Danny and Lydia began cleaning up the spray and spills of blood, the scent of bleach permeating the air. Everyone else left for the Tran station. Once there, they removed anything that spoke to their presence, with the exception of the dead bodies. The sheriff quickly broke the rings of mountain ash Lydia had placed on the exits, leaving the one in the tunnel.

Stiles spoke, loud, but without yelling, from the middle of the station. "Soon the hunters will come, and cleanup this mess. Anyone who's still alive needs to get their asses out of Hale Territory, tonight." There was no verbal response, but Stiles was almost positive he could hear the remaining rats scurrying away.

Peter was the one who found Muriel. He led Stiles towards a whimpering sound. She was further back in the rooms Gregory had claimed for his own. There was a rather luxurious bed taking up most of the room. The idea of how it even fit through the door would drive Stiles mad in the days to come, but just then his eyes found the pile of blankets that formed a sort of nest in the corner. Muriel was there, still half naked, wrapped around a pair of tiny bodies. The babies couldn't be more than a year old, and they were both crying, curled up against their mother.

Stiles tried talking to her, but she didn't seem to understand, and she replied back in a language he couldn't understand. Thankfully, Peter seemed to be fluent in whatever she was speaking. He spoke back in a calm and quiet voice. Stiles just stood there trying to look reassuring while Peter coaxed her, and the babies, up and out of the pile of blankets. Peter grabbed a shirt from the bed and handed it towards Muriel. That made both Muriel and Stiles growl at him, before he dropped it, eyes wide in Stiles direction. Stiles started pulling on Peter's own shirt, and he took it off, handing it to Muriel instead. She quickly put the shirt on, tucking the babies tightly against herself once she was done.

Stiles looked around for anything resembling baby supplies, but found practically nothing. Peter noticed him looking and made what sounded like an inquiry to her. He frowned, verging towards angry the longer she spoke. "You won't find any baby things, Stiles. The babies weren't Gregory's. He couldn't kill them, because he had allowed her to be used by the other wolves, but he wouldn't let her take time from him to get them the things they need, beyond diapers, and the time to feed them."

Stiles felt like killing Gregory all over again. "Tell her she's coming with us. I killed Gregory and until she decides what to do, she's staying with us. We'll make sure they're all taken care of."

Peter smiled, a real and true smile, and turned to speak to Muriel again. The longer he spoke the less afraid she looked, finally giving him a slow shy almost smile. After a few moments, she pointed Peter towards a small side table. He pulled out a few folders and a small bag from the drawer. He tucked the items in his jacket and turned to escort Muriel and the babies out. When they left Gregory's rooms, Stiles pulled the shirt Scott and the shirt Isaac were wearing off of them, without a word to either, and passed them to Peter. He wrapped a baby in each, before passing them back to Muriel.

Once they were finished cleaning things up and were ready to leave the station, Stiles pulled out his cellphone and started dialing. He took great satisfaction in the fact that it was almost three in the morning when a gravelly voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Chris." He said, jauntily.

"Stiles? What's wrong?" He actually sounded concerned, which took a little of the fun out of foisting this onto his lap.

"Well, all the important people are still alive, but I needed to ask you a question about dead werewolf disposal. Do you hunters have like someone who handles clean-up? Because I have a fairly decent bundle of furry corpses that need recycled."

Chris sounded fully awake now, as he answered. "We have certain protocols in place, and we try to have certain people in the know. Particularly in law enforcement..."

"If that's your slick way of letting me know my dad knows, he was part of the raid on the Alpha pack tonight. They're mostly dead, and the ones who survived have been run out of town. The old Tran station near where you and Derek were Kanima hunting is full of wolfy corpses; a few of them literal wolves. I'd just burn the place down and be done with it, but it's very marble chic in there."

"I know a few people who can handle that sort of clean up. Did you clear out anything too obvious, aside from the corpses that is?" He asked, fully awake and all business. "I trust them, but I don't want to have to trust them far enough to cover up anything that obviously points to any of your people."

"Weapons are all accounted for. There may be some glass and a line or two of mountain ash still down, but aside from a bit of blood, and possibly the blown up remains of a leather jacket, I think we cleared it all out."

"Good. Can we count on police discretion when it comes to the area?"

Stiles grimaced. Even with his dad in the know, he didn't want to have to bring his job into things. "The area is fairly empty, especially this early in the morning. Aside from that, there is a distinct shortage of deputies, thanks to Matt. Dad doesn't really have the numbers he needs to keep a viable patrol presence right now. If anything comes up, call me and we'll arrange something, but barring your people doing a conga line down the block with the corpses, I can't see anyone stirring up a fuss."

"I'll be sure to have them curb any urges to dance."

Stiles could hear the smirk in Chris's voice. "Trust me, there's been more than enough dancing tonight. I'd like to take your assistance tonight as the first step in a truce between the Argents and the Hales. In the spirit of our truce, there are a few things you should know. Gregory Vilkata is dead. His mate and her pups are under the Hale Pack's protection. Also, thanks to Vilkata, there is another wolf in our pack. Vilkata bit one of our people. He's under age and we will be taking care of him."

"Vilkata's dead? Jesus, Stiles, he has a bounty on his hide in five countries. If anyone but a wolf had taken him out..."

"It wasn't a wolf."

"Your father..." Chris started, sounding worried.

"I'm beginning to think you underestimate me, Mr. Argent. I took Gregory out. He took something of mine and I took it back. You'll find his carcass along with most of the Alpha pack, when your friends clean up the mess."

"Stiles, Vilkata wasn't a bitten wolf. The Vilkata's are a huge pack in Eastern Europe. They may come for his mate and children. They may also come for his killer."

"Our fight was fair, Hell I _let_ him live once and he came back for more, and according to his mate, the pups aren't his, but if they want to come after us... well what happens will happen." Stiles finished grimly. "Thank you for the assistance and for the information. I need to go, it's been a really frickin' long day, and still miles to go before I sleep and all that jazz."

"I'll let you know when the clean up is complete, Stiles, and you're welcome."

Stiles hung up and climbed into the Camaro, truly exhausted, and dozed off before they had traveled a block. When he woke up, they were once again at Derek's apartment. His dad led him to the elevator and into the apartment itself. The adrenaline of the night had worn off leaving him barely coherent as the claw marks on his arms and side were cleaned and bandaged, and he was dressed in a slightly too large t-shirt and sweat pants. The next thing he remembered for sure was being helped into Derek's bed, the two of them curling around each other and falling asleep. He didn't wake up again for almost twelve hours.

It was nearly four in the afternoon when he woke up to a nearly perfect reverse of the last time he woke up with Derek. His face was against Derek's neck, licking over the new skin where his mark had been before Gregory had ordered it removed. Derek was barely awake, his arms wrapped around Stiles.

"We, uh, have things we need to talk about." Stiles said pulling back. He started checking Derek over for injuries before sitting up in the bed.

"Did you changed your mind, about us, I mean?" Derek asked, looking anywhere, except at Stiles.

"If you still want me, I definitely want you, Derek, but I let you get taken by those... by the Alphas. Does that like, disqualify me as a mate?"

"They got the jump on both of us, Stiles, but, and correct me if I'm wrong here, you organized and executed the take down of an entire pack of Alphas. Those you didn't beat straight out, ran. You also trapped, humiliated, and then killed the Alpha's Alpha. Gregory was a wolf strong enough to command a pack full of Alphas, and you utterly destroyed him." Derek was finally looking at Stiles, and Stiles was finding it hard to breath.

"I, uh, also might have made a couple calls on the part of this pack, that you especially should know about. I sort of initiated a truce with the Argents. It isn't official or anything, but I informed Chris Argent about certain things and pretty much foisted clean up off onto him."

Derek immediately shifted away from him. His head and shoulders hunched, and his whole body language changed. "Derek? I know it isn't my place to speak for the pack, but we really did need the help and I don't like the guy, but he does follow the code. If we can keep him on board, it should help us keep everyone safe, in the long run. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you first, but it just seemed like it needed to be done."

"Did he get a good laugh out of it, at least?" Derek asked bitterly.

Stiles was more than a little confused. "What in all of this is funny? The fact that Danny is a wolf? Or the fact that I might have brought the wrath of Gregory's pack down on my head? Or maybe that we have an abused woman and two baby werewolves to deal with because I murdered her mate? I get that Chris is an asshole, but seriously if he found ANY of that funny I'd have never even suggested a truce, no matter how much we needed help cleaning up the bodies."

Derek was now looking confused. "I meant about me being an Omega."

"First off, why would that be any of Chris Argent's business, and second what the fuck is wrong with you being an Omega? There's nothing funny about that."

"You didn't tell him?" Derek asked.

"I'll repeat it, 'Why would that be any of Chris Argent's business?' I mean the idiot thinks I'm an Omega. He actually warned my dad and everything. Clearly, he doesn't know Jack shit about how all this works, and it's no where near his concern either way."

"Wait... I thought the Alpha pack WAS Gregory's pack. What the Hell? And I know Danny is a wolf, but how is he one of mine? I can actually feel him in the pack and I know I didn't bite him. And BABIES?" Derek looked ready to hyperventilate.

Stiles was beginning to wonder if werewolves could have panic attacks. He quickly started explaining things, hoping to calm Derek down, "Apparently Gregory's last name was Vilkata. He was a born wolf from the Vilkata clan of Eastern Europe. He was abusing his mate, and offering her around to the others as a plaything. She has a set of twins, she says aren't his. I offered her our protection. I know I overstepped yet again, but Peter was there and seemed to agree with me. I know, not a ringing endorsement, but it's the right thing to do."

"She needed help, right?" Derek asked and waited until Stiles nodded. "Then it was the right thing to do, you didn't overstep. Now, Danny?"

"Gregory turned him, but Gregory was a bit of a fucking idiot. He wanted to rub my nose in things, so he let me 'visit' with Jackson and Danny, while Danny was still in the processes of turning. The, uh, mark I left on you? Gregory was the one who ordered it removed, and he had it boxed up and gave it to me. He thought he was going to break me, or torment me with it, and he did, but I turned the tables on him. I used the blood, yours and mine, to override his claim on Danny. I don't even know why I used my own, but it seemed right at the time. I rubbed it into the bite before it healed, and had Jackson help me replace Gregory's scent with ours. Surprise... it's a boy!"

"Your blood is probably the only reason it worked. My blood wasn't exactly kept on ice. Considering you were scent marked and pack, it gave the added boost needed to hijack Gregory's claim. The fact that you killed him, and the fact that your going to become my mate only served to strengthen our claim over Danny. Gregory tried to call him last night, didn't he?" Stiles nodded. "Danny stood with us instead, Hell he claimed you as his Alpha. I'm pretty sure we're stuck with him." Derek said with a grin.

"Which is a good thing because apparently, Danny is one of Jackson's mates. Lydia and Danny are... I guess co-mates?"

Derek thought about it for a minute and then nodded. "Sounds right to me." He got an odd look on his face. "Wait, Chris Argent warned your DAD that you were an Omega?"

"Oh yeah, apparently Dad now knows about werewolves, cause one of the stupid Alpha pack attacked him. Chris showed up to save the day, thank God. Apparently he used the opportunity to sell Dad werewolf ammo and guns, and to warn him about the dangers little old me faces as a human omega who runs around with the big bad wolves. Apparently you all just want to eat me up." Stiles leered at Derek, teasing.

He smirked at Stiles before growing serious again. "Your dad is okay with all this... with us?"

"He's apparently known for a couple days. That's what the whole 'freak Stiles out at the gas station' routine was about. Besides, he was right along with the pack when we took on the Alphas. Peter and Dad came in through the tunnels while Isaac and Scott came in through the street level."

"And how did you come in?" Derek asked, curious.

"I strolled right in the front door and demanded my right to fight for my mate. I think I amused Gregory, right up till the point where I, um, blew up your leather jacket and then stabbed him a couple times." Stiles said, sheepishly.

He wasn't quite prepared to be tackled. "I really should be pissed at you risking your life... and apparently my jacket, and I am, but I'm going to show you how pissed I am by licking you all over. Any objections?" Derek practically purred in his ear.

"None." Stiles said, shakily, as Derek began to nuzzle, lick and kiss him from his shoulders down.


	16. Chapter 16

Derek licked and kissed down Stiles' neck, stopping a moment to remove the bandages along his arm. He let out a low growl before licking across the claw marks Gregory had inflicted. The wounds seemed cleaner, healthier once he was done, and he quickly moved down the arm to the next wound. Once he was satisfied, he helped Stiles remove the borrowed T-shirt and began working at the claw marks along Stiles' side.

"Not to ruin the mood, or anything, but those are some seriously deep claw marks, why didn't I turn?" Stiles asked, watching as Derek froze at the idea.

"You would have. You smell like more of a wolf, even now."

"Buuuut?" Stiles drew out as Derek bent to lap over another claw mark, slowly.

"But, you killed Gregory." Derek said, moving until he could look Stiles in the face. "I didn't lie to Scott about that. I was just wrong about the rules."

"Does that mean if I'd have left Danny alone he would be human too?" Stiles asked.

"Nope, even if he'd killed Gregory instead, he transformed, I remember seeing him in his beta form, in the station, right?"

"Yeah, right before I got the chains off of you. I think it was the stress of the situation." Stiles said quietly.

"Once you've transformed, the change is a part of you, and there's no going back. As it is, you're always going to be more wolflike than you were before. You might heal a little better and you'll probably be grumpier than normal during a full moon, but with Gregory dead, you won't transform."

"So why-"

"Why did I tell Scott he could be cured?" Derek asked, quietly. Stiles nodded. "I was going on half remembered rumors. I told him I wasn't sure, and I still wasn't, not until after Peter was back. I looked it up in some of our family's records. Peter had them hidden away."

Stiles leaned up to kiss Derek, but suddenly a pair of infants began squalling in the next room. Stiles adjusted his aim and kissed Derek on the forehead instead.

"Unfortunately, I think that was our cue to get up and get moving. We have a few things we need to deal with today, and I need to make sure Chris came through for us. Otherwise I may need to hire a good lawyer." Stiles joked, pulling Derek upright in the bed.

Derek nodded solemnly and quickly climbed out of the bed to get dressed.

They entered a mad house when they left the bedroom. What looked to be the entire pack was scattered across the living room. Thankfully the wall Gregory had left blood all over was cleaned, but Stiles could smell the bleach and suspected it was harsher on the wolves' noses than the humans.

The room was filled with obviously new baby things, and the packaging from them. Isaac was feeding one of the babies, while flashing his eyes at it, in a weird wolfy game of peek-a-boo, and Lydia was holding the other baby over one shoulder, patting it's back. Jackson was perched beside her watching with a slightly panicked look in his eyes. Stiles wasn't sure he was afraid Lydia would make him hold the baby, or demand one of her own. Either way, Danny appeared to be the calming influence, sitting at Jackson's feet rubbing his leg. Peter and Muriel were sitting on the loveseat quietly talking in the same language from the night before. Scott was standing along one side of the room watching Isaac, as if waiting to fetch whatever he might need for his bundle of baby. Boyd and Erica were huddled close on the couch, eyes roaming from group to group. Both of them avoided looking at Derek, Stiles noticed.

There was a playpen in the corner and a half constructed crib along one wall. There were also piles of toys and stacks of baby clothes for a boy and for a girl, which answered Stiles' curiosity about the gender of the babies, as well as a pair of walkers the babies seemed just old enough for.

Stiles tracked down his phone sitting on the dining room table. There were no missed calls, but the call log showed a call from the Argents before 9 am. Stiles was just about to ask about the call when Peter spoke up.

"Chris said they've cleaned out the station, and there were no unforeseen complications. He also mentioned information about a reward?"

Stiles could only guess about the possible bounty on Gregory's head Chris had started to mention. "We'll see what happens with that. I'm not about to start taking rewards for killing wolves. No matter how big of an asshole they were." He would however accept it and pass it on to Muriel, if there actually was some sort of bounty. She was raising twins, and if she chose to leave the pack, she could use all the help she could get, and if she stayed, well it was never too early to start a college fund for the kids.

"Where's my dad?" Stiles asked.

"He went into the station about an hour ago. He wanted to makes sure there weren't any complications we didn't think about." Peter said.

Stiles nodded, and slipped his hand into Derek's and then turned and pulled Derek after him. "My Jeep is home with a flat, so Derek is going to take me home to change. Bye." He said, tugging Derek along quickly, before anyone could comment.

They made it clear to the garage before Derek said anything. "Why are we going to your place? You could keep borrowing my clothes, I really don't mind. I think I actually like it." He said, leaning in to kiss Stiles neck where the shirt was sliding off one side.

"Oh, I'm sure I can get used to the slightly baggy look, Derek, but you've missed the point... enti-i-irely" He said, drawing out the word as Derek distracted him with his tongue.

"What's that, Stiles?" Derek asked.

"Well, my dad is at work, and the entire pack is in your living room. So, you tell me, whose bedroom seems more useful for celebrating the fact that we survived last night?"

Derek stepped back, eyes wide. Without a word he grabbed Stiles' hand and drug him to the Camaro, a smirk on his face.

They didn't talk much during the ride to Stiles' place, they just shared teasing looks, and once Stiles ran his hand down Derek's arm, in a slow teasing manner. After they nearly wrecked, he decided patience was a virtue, and kept his hands to himself for the rest of the short drive.

He could barely get the key in the lock, and once he did, he nearly took the hall table out as he pulled Derek into the house after him. They once again kissed their way through the house until they made it up to Stiles' room. Stiles shoved Derek back onto the bed before he went diving through drawers for condoms and a tube of KY. He sat them onto the nightstand before he went to work pulling off his own clothes and Derek's. Once they were both naked, he climbed into the bed next to Derek, just far enough apart to not touch each other, and then looked Derek in the eyes.

"I love you, and I want to be with you for the rest of our lives, but we have that time, now. Most of the Alphas are gone, and if they're stupid enough to come back, we will deal with them. So, if you want to wait, to have more time, to be more sure, then it's okay. This should be something you choose, not something you have to do. What do you want, Derek?"

Derek slid a hand up to cup the side of Stiles' face. "I want you, Stiles; I choose you. For now, and for life. Only you."

Stiles dove forward then, kissing Derek with everything in him. Their bodies were sliding against each other and hands roamed; Derek's down Stiles' back and across the top of his ass. Stiles' along Derek's shoulders, and then down thumbing against his nipples until they pebbled up under the attention. Stiles slid down and licked one and then the other.

After nibbling his way back up to Derek's throat, he reached out for the lube off the nightstand. He fought with the relatively simple lid, and then squeezed far to much onto his hand, and down onto Derek's stomach, before sliding down the bed, laughing at his own klutziness. Derek rolled onto his back and pulled up one knee, while Stiles moved into a better position. He darted his head down and licked across the head of Derek's cock, drawing a ragged breath from Derek.

Stiles slid his slicked hand up the crack of Derek's ass before slowly circling his tight hole, one finger slipping back and forth over it before pushing in and pulling out with shallow thrusts. He slowly pushed in deeper and then pulled out to slide his hand through the slick puddle along Derek's abs, and then pushing in two fingers. Stiles nibbled across the bottom of Derek's stomach while his fingers slipped in and out of Derek's ass.

Stiles slid his fingers deeper, stroking and working to relax Derek. He felt the slit inside Derek that marked him as an Omega male. If Derek hadn't been in his fertile state the slit would be undetectable, but with his body producing the right hormones and pheromones, Stiles would most likely find himself sliding in and out of this tight...

Stiles pulled away, struggling to keep himself from coming right then and there. Derek shifted to look at Stiles, worried for a few seconds, before the overwhelming scent of Stiles' arousal hit him, and he smirked. Stiles forced himself to breathe nice and slow. He ran his non slick hand over the head of his cock before taking a condom and slowly rolling it over himself. He crawled up over Derek, licking and nibbling the clear spot where his mark had been, slick hand stroking Derek as he mouthed the spot over and over. When Derek was gasping for breath and just on the verge of orgasm, Stiles stopped moving his hand and bit down, hard. He licked across the bite mark and then rubbed his precum slicked fingers over it, stroking Derek again until he was gasping and cumming between their stomachs. Stiles slowly stroked him, while watching the bite mark heal.

Once the skin was again unmarked, Stiles slid down and planted himself between Derek's legs. He positioned himself against Derek's slicked opening and slowly pushed in, idly drawing his fingers through the cum coating Derek's stomach, before licking his finger clean. Derek's eyes shifted red as he watched that, unable to look away.

"I'm inside you, Derek, just like you're inside me." Stiles ran his hand over the area of his neck and shoulders Derek had marked. "This time, I'm going to stay there." He said, smiling down at Derek, before he leaned over and bit him again, this time just above the knee that Derek had pulled up and around Stiles. Stiles licked across the wound repeatedly, until it healed. Once it was closed up, he started thrusting into Derek. He was sliding Derek slowly up the bed with each thrust. His hand was stroking Derek again, bringing him closer to another orgasm.

Stiles shifted until he was laying over Derek's chest, Derek's cock was trapped between them. Stiles was still pushing in and out in a rolling thrust, as he leaned down and caught hold of Derek's mouth. He slid one hand between them to stroke Derek, while his tongue licked across the hot mouth under him. Stiles kissed him deeply, his other hand sliding up around Derek, holding him in place as Stiles fucked into him, slowly picking up the tempo.

Derek had one hand sliding up and down Stiles' side from the top of his ass to his shoulder, the other hand was sliding and scraping over the shoulder he'd marked before. As everything started moving faster, his nails shifted, longer and as he was pulled closer and closer to the edge he began unconsciously gripping Stiles. His nails slipped into skin, just a little deeper than the usual pinpricks and Stiles froze over him, just for a second; just long enough for Derek to realize and shift back, freezing in place himself, afraid he'd hurt Stiles. Before he could voice an apology, Stiles was kissing him again, fiercely, before he pulled back and began thrusting hard and fast.

Between gasping breaths, Stiles spoke. "I could feel it, what I'm doing to you, how you feel with me inside you. You are amazing, cum for me, Derek, please cum."

"Stiles..." Derek managed to get out, before he was gasping and cumming again.

Stiles was pumping in and out of him hard and fast now, hands leaving quickly healing bruises as he held onto Derek's arm and his side, and then with one final thrust and a ragged breath, came. He froze in place for a moment or two before slumping down against Derek's chest; his breathing slowly coming back to normal as he stretched up to kiss Derek. He rolled off to one side, and carefully slipped the condom off and into the trashcan before grabbing a wash cloth. He wiped both of them off, before tossing the washcloth down towards the bathroom and laying back down. He settled on his side and pulling Derek to face him before burying his face in Derek's neck.

"Love you." Stiles whispered, before they curled up together and dozed off.

The last thing he heard before sleep took over was Derek whispering. "I love you too."

It was dark out when Stiles woke up again. He was curled around Derek, holding him close. He slid towards the edge of the bed and grabbed the tube of lube he'd used earlier. Shifting slightly, he squeezed some onto his fingers and started slowly working himself loose. He was growing hard and his breath was getting faster. His eyes slid closed for a moment or two, only to jerk open when he heard the low groan in front of him.

Derek was watching him, eyes glowing red, in the darkness. He was breathing heavier one hand sliding out slowly to touch Stiles. His shoulder first, and then stroking slowly down his body, until he reached the hard cock waiting for him.

Stiles leaned forward for a kiss, fingers still inside himself. Once he was finished, he slipped the three fingers out and pushed Derek onto his back, before crawling over him, their groins rubbing against one another. He stroked over them both with his slicked fingers before he began a slow rolling of his hips, which had Derek gasping under him. Stiles was kissing and sucking up and down his shoulder and neck, before moving back to his mouth and getting lost in a tangle of tongues and teeth for countless minutes.

Slowly he remembered what he'd wanted to do and pulled himself up the hard body beneath him. He pushed himself up, reaching around to grasp Derek in his hand, before sliding back down and pressing his slick hole to the hard length under him. Derek looked up at him, more than a little stunned, but still reached down to help hold, and position himself. Eyes closed in concentration, Stiles pushed slowly down until Derek was filling him.

Derek wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving, the frantic beating of his heart under Stiles' hand was the only indication he hadn't turned into a super sexy statue. Stiles held perfectly still for a moment or two, and then pulled himself up, just a few inches, and then back down. Derek finally broke his paralysis, groaning and then hands sliding to Stiles' hips to help move him, slowly up and down on the hard shaft inside of him.

Everything was slow and amazing and just perfect, but Stiles wanted more and he could feel Derek straining under him, holding himself back. Stiles licked up to Derek's ear and then bit, hard. "Fuck me, Derek. Please."

Derek jerked his head towards Stiles then, eyes searching his, and suddenly they were moving, rolling, and Stiles was on his back with Derek over him. Stiles pressed up, kissing him hard and fast and dirty, before hissing out "Yes!"

Derek shifted Stiles' legs up; One around his waist, and the other almost, but not quite, over his shoulder, allowing him to press in tight, and pull a gasping moan from Stiles. Once they were both more than satisfied with the new position, he started thrusting hard and fast, a roll to his hips, his mouth licking and nibbling up and down the long stretch of Stiles' throat as he threw his head back, gasping and making the breathiest and sexiest moans, which might have been 'Oh God's and 'Derek's if he was even remotely coherent.

Stiles had his arms around Derek and was holding on for dear life. He was spiraling higher and higher and Derek slammed against something inside him that had him seeing stars, and the wolf was wrapping a hand around Stiles stroking him in time with the thrusts. Stiles wasn't exactly sure he'd survive the rapidly approaching orgasm, but oh ooooh YES! He came mid pant, his body clenching up. After another moment or two, Derek thrust in deep and then froze, red eyes flashing again as he came, deep inside Stiles. After a few beats, he slumped down over Stiles, languidly kissing his way up Stiles neck to his mouth.

After a few minutes of slow deep kisses, Derek rolled to one side, slipping out of Stiles. The smell of himself on, Hell, _in_ Stiles like that had him so satisfied, he couldn't explain it, and then the reality of what that meant jerked him out of the haze. "Stiles, I didn't, we didn't..." He looked helplessly towards the nightstand where a handful of condoms lay, unopened.

"Have you been with anyone, ever?" Stiles asked.

"Kate and I did a little, but not like this and there wasn't ever anyone else." Derek replied, frowning.

"Which was like seven years ago, now. Plus you have a super duper wolfy immune system, right?" When Derek nodded, Stiles went on. "I've never been with anyone except you. I'm not going to be with anyone except you. The only reason I wore one with you, is neither of us is ready for a baby, yet."

"You haven't..." Derek looked at him, eyes wide.

"With the exception of a really bad kiss in Junior High, which I am so not counting, you are my first everything, Derek." Stiles leaned in and kissed him again, slow and sweet.

They stayed wrapped around each other for another few minutes, before cleaning up the bed, showering and changing. Once they were both cleaned and dressed, they locked up headed for the car. Someone, probably his dad, had arranged to fix the flat on the Jeep, and Stiles gave his lady love a pat on the way past her, before slipping into the Camaro.

As they drove, he started texting Scott, finding out if the rest of the pack had eaten, and then what they wanted, before the two of them took a detour to pick up a strange mix of pizza, chicken and Chinese take out. When they arrived there was a small satisfied grin on Peter's face that had nothing to do with the food.


	17. Chapter 17

It was almost a week before things seemed to settle down. Deaton had finally returned and had presented the pack with a bill for the supplies used in the raid. Peter quickly paid him the slightly exorbitant price, which Deaton offered to 'adjust' if Stiles was willing to share some of his recipes, with Deaton, along with thoughts on what worked and what didn't work. After being promised they would never be used against the pack, Stiles spent an afternoon trading recipes and brainstorming with Deaton. They'd both come away with a few new ideas, and Deaton agreed to keep supplies on hand in case of future emergencies.

By the end of the week, Deaton had examined Derek and agreed he was past his most recent fertile stage. He also took a look at both Muriel and the babies. Thanks to werewolf healing Muriel was physically recovered from her time as Gregory's mate, but mentally she tended to go submissively quiet around most males, with the exception of Peter and Stiles. She had been slowly picking up English from the other wolves, and now Peter spent a great deal of his day helping her become fluent. The first time she spoke English to Stiles, she thanked him for allowing her to join his pack. Stiles' denial nearly had her in tears before he clarified he meant that it was Derek's pack, despite any stupid Alpha custom, but that she was very welcome in the pack.

Stiles was starting to get strange looks from his dad after a day or so, and prepared himself for another one of 'those' talks, where in he would make them both incredibly uncomfortable, but, hopefully, both would feel better afterwards. This time he picked up some burgers and actual fries, and met his dad at the Sheriff's station for lunch.

The Sheriff didn't come by his job by being stupid, so the minute he smelled real meat, he knew something was up. Instead of opening what smelled like a very, very good burger, he sat it aside and watched Stiles until he was squirming... at least that was the plan. What actually happened, was Stiles stared right back, one eyebrow raised, waiting for his dad to actually speak. He'd probably never know just how much this new and unusual response to his father's usual interrogation technique helped his case.

After more than a minute without a flinch or more than a blink, the Sheriff purposefully looked away, putting a straw in his drink, and then spoke. "Why don't you tell me what this meal is setting me up for, so we can get it over with, and I can enjoy my food?"

"This is more of a 'We're celebrating.' than a 'Sorry I screwed up.' sort of treat, Dad. Although it is serious and pretty big news."

"Big how? Like big 'I got Derek pregnant' big, or big 'I've won the Lotto' big?" His dad asked, purposefully looking at the burger instead of Stiles.

"Strangely enough, just about halfway between those two things, in my opinion." Stiles said, unable to hide the goofy grin he always got when he thought about Derek being his mate.

"Now I'm really scared." He said, focusing on Stiles again.

"Remember the whole thing where Chris Argent told you I was an Omega, and I told you Derek was, and that I was an Alpha?" His dad nodded and Stiles continued. "When Peter approached me about Derek it was to basically ask me to be in the werewolf equivalent of an arranged marriage. Wolves mate for life, and the bond can be tricked, especially since a lot of wolves view Omegas on the level of a broodmare or a slave. Traditionally whoever becomes their mate takes over everything that they have. In Derek's case that would have been his Alpha status in the pack and all of the Hale territory."

"I know this is all supernatural crap, but how could they enforce it, if he tried to fight?"

"A LOT of the mate stuff is mental, and Derek was raised hearing this crap. Between that and the stuff with Kate, Derek is especially susceptible to believing he had no choice, that he didn't deserve a choice. There is a certain amount of instinct and pheromones and attraction in the whole mating thing, but with all the negative crap and the traditionalist crap stuck in his head, he would have bonded and given up everything, because if he was mated to one of the Alpha pack wolves, the bond would have been set with a rape."

The Sheriff looked sick to his stomach.

"The Alpha Pack was doing this to every Omega they came across. Taking everything from them, and if they didn't have the hang ups that Derek did, if they didn't eventually submit, well those sorts of Alphas wouldn't be effected by the bond much if their mate were killed. If Muriel hadn't been nursing, playing the part of a breeder for the pack, I have no doubts Gregory would have killed her off. He wanted Derek."

"So now that the Alpha pack is gone, where does that leave things?" His dad asked.

"They aren't all dead, and they weren't the only dangers out there, just the closest. Besides, I never agreed to what Peter suggested. I'm fairly sure Peter wanted a good little puppet who the pack would accept, and he could control. Instead I gave Derek the choice. The night before I told you about us, I asked him what he wanted. He was willing to turn the pack over to Scott and just let the Alpha's take him, so everyone else would be safe, and I wouldn't be pushed into tying myself to him. Instead of letting him sacrifice himself, I asked him out so we could really get to know each other, instead of all the 'run for your life, something is trying to kill us' getting to know each other that was our normal interaction."

"Do I want to know?" His dad asked, eyebrow raised.

"Probably not, it involves bullet wounds and water treading marathons, and when Matt... just a lot of bad stuff we survived together. Anyway, we got to know each other better, and after we got him back from the Alphas, we completed the bond."

"So what you're telling me is that you went and got werewolf married? That you made Derek some sort of property?"

"I made Derek my partner. As in equal fifty-fifty, til death do us part, head-over-heels in love, mate." Stiles said, suddenly furious. "Do you honestly think I'd-"

His dad cut him off. "No I don't, but I wanted to make sure you realized how you felt. The best way to get a straight answer out of you is to rile you up. Always has been."

Stiles spent the next minute or two staring at his dad, while the Sheriff unwrapped and began eating his burger with a smirk. The smirk lasted all the way through the visit, but Stiles couldn't resist one final poke on the way out the door.

"We're going to table the whole 'Knocking Derek up' thing until after I graduate, at least. So don't get your hopes up for the pitter patter of little feet for a couple years yet, Grandpa." Stiles said as he tossed the wrappings from their meal into the garbage and sailed out of the room.

"Very funny, Stiles." His dad said. Stiles smirked and headed for his Jeep. "You were kidding about that last part... right?"

Stiles was smug and grinning about getting the last word until his dad handed him with a rather sizable box of condoms later that night.

FL*FL*FL*FL

Between Derek, Peter and to his great discomfort, Stiles, they managed to hash out what to do about both the Hale house and the station Derek had been using as a training area. They also decided to expand the apartment to include the one next to it. A quick call to the building's manager and a hasty application of money had the Apartment quite liveable after only three days.

The process wasn't entirely without bumps along the way, Stiles was almost positive he heard Peter growling at the delivery guy who'd brought the bulk of the furniture, but that was entirely forgiven when he realized the various pieces were slowly, but surely being placed in a way that would have made it difficult for normal people to access or even monitor one half of the room, from the other.

"I realize Les Misérables is trending again, thanks to Anne Hathaway, but is there a particular reason you're remaking the barricade in our apartment?" Stiles asked, trying to be non threatening.

The delivery guy, who'd been eying various valuables, looked up then, irritated. "Huh? I'm, like not a decorator, dude. It's up to you guys to decide where to, you know, put stuff. 's not in my job description, right?"

"Absolutely right, buddy. So, why don't you just bring the stuff up and leave it in the hall. We have plenty of people who can get it set up right. Peter, why don't you give the store a call and tell them how helpful our friend," He paused a moment to read the name tag on the guy's shirt. "Mark, has been. I'll see him out."

Peter, who'd been seconds from shifting, found himself calming down, and instead of shredding the thieving young man, gave him a toothsome smile. The fool quickly stepped back, leaving his side open to Stiles, who rolled his eyes and followed him closely out of the apartment.

Stiles thanked whichever deity might be listening that the fool hadn't tried that sort of thing while Muriel or the twins had been present. He was fairly sure Peter would have taken the jerk's head off for any threat, accidental or not towards their newest packmates.

Stiles was also sure to gently retrieve Peter's watch, which had mysteriously relocated itself into Mark's pocket. He was so gentle Mark didn't realize he'd lost the watch, until Stiles very pointedly put it on his own wrist, admiring it in the remaining light.

Peter was quite understanding about the drops of blood on the dial, when Stiles returned it to him. Mark wasn't quite so understanding, even going so far as to threatening to have him arrested for assault, when Stiles pulled out his cellphone and started talking to his dad about what exactly was grand theft according to the California Penal Code. Mark learned to live with disappointment at that point, and fairly ran to his truck, in his haste to not get himself in more trouble.

A suitable application of werewolf strength had the furniture organized and positioned properly in only a couple of hours. Somehow celebratory pizzas became an impromptu apartment warming party as various packmates wandered in and out checking out the new addition to their temporary lair.

Since the set up was temporary until the contractors could rebuild the Hale house, Muriel would share one room with the pups, with Peter taking the second bedroom. Isaac, who had been sleeping on the couch, was taking over Peter's room in the first apartment, and Derek was keeping his original room. The entire pack had access to the building and the apartments, but the rest of them stayed with their family most nights.

Once Boyd and Erica recovered a bit, the Sheriff had helped smooth things over with their parents. There had been quite a bit of bullshit, but their absence was now thought to involve miscommunication after the incident with Matt. Erica and Boyd had been witnesses, and they had been relocated to keep them safe, but Matt's murderous rampage through the police station had ended the life of the officer in charge of speaking with Mrs. Reyes and the Boyds, before he was able to complete his duty. A truly sad case of miscommunication. Erica and her mother had both cried. There weren't tears at Boyd's house, but he might have gotten a punch in the arm from his little sister.

Lydia, Jackson and Danny seemed to be doing well. All the general douchery Jackson seemed to leak on a daily basis was a lot less evident these days. Danny had taken to being a wolf, and sharing a boyfriend with another person in the same carefree manner he took most of his life. He also seemed to acknowledge Stiles, more than Derek, as his Alpha. Stiles, surprisingly enough, seemed to take this in stride, and made sure to mark Danny to reassure him as often as possible. Only the fact that their version of marking was completely non-sexual neck petting kept both Jackson and Derek from putting a stop to it.

Whether it was the constant reassurance from his acknowledged Alpha, or his mating with Jackson, or more likely a combination of the two, Danny didn't seem to have any trouble with control, picking it up far quicker than any of the other wolves. Danny and Jackson had spent their first full moon together rutting in Jackson's bedroom. Lydia had taken them for a spa day the following afternoon. The two of them had been advocating for standard post transformation massages since. Derek had rolled his eyes, but both Peter and Isaac had looked quite interested.

Stiles wasn't entirely sure, but he thought Muriel may have a new suitor in the form of Peter. He was constantly doting on her and the babies. He spent most of his time chatting with her in various languages and helping her with diapers or feedings. Considering the level of suspicion Derek held Peter to most days, the fact that he only smiled sadly at the proceedings only served to make Stiles nervous over the whole thing, until one night Derek told him about one of the victims of the Hale fire, Peter's pregnant wife. After that, Stiles was considerably less suspicious, but worried about transference and Peter's already precarious mental health. He watched and hoped, for both Muriel and Peter, that it never became a problem.

Chris Argent had come through with the reward money for Gregory. Danny had helped Stiles set up an account which was in turn filled after Gregory's pelt and death were confirmed by various sources. Muriel's pups now had a sizable trust fund. What remained of the various bounties was kept as a secondary safety net for the pack, beyond the Hale family money. It was true by and large that most hunters were a bit backwards, but there were always a few forward thinkers in any crowd and Stiles was paranoid that someday one of their far too many enemies would wise up enough to start using more modern methods in their hunts beyond the damned tazers.

As the days went by, Derek and Stiles became closer, and got to know each other better. They alternated between Stiles' place and the apartment; Sleeping where ever they ended up each night. Slowly, they began to explore each other and their collective likes, dislike, kinks and fantasies. They also occasionally had to work around issues caused by either Gregory and his merry band of assholes... er Alphas, or from dear, darling and thankfully dead Kate.

The first and largest, to date, one of these was the idea of bondage. In theory both of them were highly interested in exploring that particular kink together, but when it came down to the reality of it, their first attempt, using Derek's werewolf proof chains, led Derek to a near panic attack. Derek had tried to 'endure' for Stiles' sake. A stupid decision that precipitated their first real fight, once Stiles got him unchained and talking.

"You wanted it. Hell, I wanted it. I just... I hoped it would go away and I could smell how much you were enjoying it, so I didn't want to say anything." Derek started to explain.

"I was enjoying it, so it doesn't matter that you were starting to hyperventilate, that you weren't excited in the least, that you were hurting and scared and just what? Laying back and thinking of England? Do you still think I'm like one of those Alpha pack bastards?" Stiles asked, furious.

"No, I don't; I didn't. That's not what I meant. You were enjoying it and I didn't want to ruin that." Derek tried to explain.

"Derek, do you know what I enjoy the most about sex; What gets me the hottest, the most excited?" Stiles asked, teeth gritted.

Derek shook his head, unsure how to answer.

"What turns me on the most, is knowing I'm doing something YOU like. That I'm the one making you hard, making you moan and cum. Maybe its ego or whatever, but knowing you want me that I can make you feel like that? It's addicting and exciting and just fucking hot. So what do you think looking down and seeing the man I love shaking and afraid because of something I did would do to me?"

Derek was in his arms in a split second, hands petting and his face buried against Stiles' neck. Afterwards, they discussed the possibilities and between Derek's reaction to the chains, and the wolf's ability to overcome both leather and rope, they tabled the idea of bondage for the time being.

If Stiles walked around with a speculative look on his face for a week or two before taking Derek for a long weekend at his dad's hunting cabin, well that's a tale for another time, isn't it?

The pack became slowly, but surely a true family over the long months of Summer, thankfully without too much in the way of danger and strife, at least until the new school year started.

Notes: In theory there may be a sequel to this, if only the bondage scene I started writing that just didn't fit into the final chapter, but first I want to get Devil in the Details caught up. Hopefully that will be the next to update, unless a random bunny hops through first.


End file.
